Jakarta, March 21 (Antara) - Indonesia is all set to host a three-day meeting of the Asia Water Council (AWC) in Bali on Thursday to discuss the challenges related to water resources, but its own rivers are heavily polluted.
"Some 68 percent of the river water in 33 provinces in Indonesia is seriously polluted," Director General of Environmental Damage and Pollution Control of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Karliansyah, said over the weekend.
Data available with the directorate showed that water quality, checked at 186 points in 10 regions in Sumatra, was seriously contaminated. River water here was found polluted to an extent of 68 percent while 29 percent was moderately polluted and three percent was mildly tainted.
According to Sri Parwati Murwati Budi Susanti, director for the control of pollution and water of the Directorate General of Environmental Damage and Pollution Control, water contamination was also noticed at 454 points in six regions in Java in 2015. Based on class II air quality criteria (KMA), about 68 percent of the river water was polluted heavily, 22 percent moderately and seven percent mildly.
In regional areas of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), at 82 points, some 64 percent of the river water were seriously polluted, 12 percent was moderately polluted and 13 percent was tainted lightly. Only six percent met the quality standards.
At 99 points in four provinces in Kalimanta, 65 percent of river water was heavily polluted, 29 moderately and six percent mildly.
Sri Parwati Ssaid that 32 parameters were used to measure the quality of heavily contaminated water. One of the parameters was the amount of ecoli that the water contained. She said class II water criteria meant that the water could be used as a means of recreation facility, cultivation of fresh water fish, irrigating plantations and for other purposes.
The high percentage of river water pollution was a cause for concern. Fatkhur Rohman, a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly of Surabya, East Java, on Sunday expressed concern regarding the quality of water in the Surabaya river.
He said this river's water was used as raw water to be processed into drinking water by the regional government owned tap water company (PDAM).
He said water contamination in Surabaya City has been classified as falling within the red zone.
"Based on the local Environmental Body (BLH), the quality of the water in Surabaya was far from good. Raw water used as drinking water must be of Class I KMA quality. The water of the Jagir River in Surabaya has class III KMA quality. After all, it will be channeled by the PDAM to consumers as drinking water," he said.
He said that the water pollution in Surabaya was caused by domestic waste which came from households, hospitals, hotels, restaurant, offices, trade centers, malls and apartments. A city like Surabaya should have installed a centralized waste management system.
However, Fatkhur is also aware of the fact that such a waste management system will need big investment. Managing waste is important for the country to bring down river water pollution in Indonesia.
Actually, the Indonesian river water, if compared with that in the past, has been improving.
"There is an improving trend that can be observed, where in 2014 the percentage of contaminated water was recorded at 79.9 percent, it dropped to 67.94 percent in 2015," Director General Karliansyah said on Saturday (March 19).
The water quality index (IKA) in the Musi River of Palembang, South Sumatra, for instance, has now met the quality standards, Karliansyah said. The IKA condition of Ciliwuring and Citarum rivers in Jakarta is also improving. It has even exceeded the target set in the 2015 middle-term national development plan.
"Overall, domestic waste is on top of the list of pollutants that has contaminated the rivers. Most of the polluted rivers are in Java," he said.
Efforts are being made to improve the quality of water in 15 rivers, for example, by installing an online monitoring device at a number of points of the rivers.
In the meantime, amid its efforts to improve its water quality, Indonesia will host a meeting of the Asia Water Council (AWC) from March 24 to 26, 2016 in Bali to discuss the challenges related to water resources that the Asian region is facing.
"Together with other stakeholders, we will have the 'Asian Water High Level Round Table' (AWHot) meeting here," Chairman of the Organizing Committee Agus Suprapto told the press on Monday.
According to Agus, AWHoT will feature intensive discussions and debate, and will discuss the challenges in the field of water resources in Asia.
AWHot meetings have been held four times since June 2014, after the formation of the Asian Water Council (AWC) as an influential entity to address water problems in Asia.
The Asian Water Council was founded by France, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Nepal, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand and Uzbekistan.
"The Council's first meeting dealt with various future agendas and plans, besides electing the Council's President and Vice-President, appointing its chairman, deputy chairman and coordinator for each of the seven special committees, approving the AWC Constitution, approving the water resource management and PFI (priority for implementation) projects and discussed plans for the first Asia International Water Week, identifying countries that will host the activities," Agus said. ***4***EDITED BY INE(A014/INE/ H-YH)
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 21-03-2016 22:28: |
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