65 rivers, 5 lakes in Indonesia added to polluted list in 2010

Fidelis E. Satriastanti - 

At least five lakes and 65 rivers across the country were contaminated as a result of human activity last year, the country’s leading environmental group says.

Mukri Friatna, head of advocacy for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said on Monday that the figure for rivers found to be polluted was up from 53 in 2009.

“These are all newly polluted rivers because we didn’t count those that were already heavily polluted, such as the Ciliwung River [in Jakarta],” he said.

The lakes polluted last year include Sentani in Papua, which has been contaminated with domestic waste, and Unhas in South Sulawesi, which is polluted with heavy metals.

The other lakes are Situ Rawa Badung in West Java (contaminated with mercury), Sembuluh in Central Kalimantan (a dumping ground for crude palm oil waste), and Penantian in South Sumatra (polluted by a nearby coal-fired power plant).

Mukri said the contamination problem has been exacerbated by the proliferation of industrial waste.

“Industries tend to dump their liquid waste during the rainy season, assuming that the rain will help wash it out to sea,” he said. “However, these days we see them dumping their waste more indiscriminately, even outside the rainy season. We found cases of this in Kalimantan. The government should be serious about assessing companies’ environmental impact.”

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