Water Pollution in Indonesia

Agustian Muarif, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Indonesia

October 11th 2014
In my opinion, water pollution is a water which has been contamined by unwanted
matterials so that it degrades its quality for a particular purposes and it also make some
damage to the environmental life. This is a problem which many country seriously concern
about and struggle to overcome because this pollution can cause many other adverse
dangerous problems. Polluted water can usually be identified from its colour, smell, taste,
and also its content of harmful chemicals and microorganisms.
Most of all countries in the world have this problem. Especially in my country
Indonesia, there are many things which can cause water pollution. In Indonesia, water
pollution can occur in everywhere including river, lake, and sea. The causes of this
pollution are mainly because of domestic waste, industrial waste, and agricultural waste. A
lot of Indonesian people which live in a household generally produce waste in two types,
they are organic waste (leftover food, sewage, wood, foliage) and inorganic waste (plastic,
metal, glass). Households in Indonesia also produce a chemical liquid waste which is
difficult to decompose such as detergen. In industrial area mainly produced liquid wastes
which contain many harmful chemicals such as silt, sand, alkali, oil, and any other
chemical residues. Agriculture in Indonesia also produces some wastes which can
dangerously pollute the water, such as organic and inorganic fertilizer.
Why does water pollution occur in Indonesia? It occurs because there are a lot of
Indonesian people who still dont care about the environmental cleanliness. They
deliberately throw any garbages into the river, lake, or sea. They rule out the harmful
impact which will be harming other Indonesian people. Actually, in Indonesia, the main
water pollution occurs in the river. In 2012, there are 52 main rivers in 33 provinces have
been polluted. And also between 2008-2013 as much as 80% of rivers in Indonesia has
been polluted by harmful heavy metals. Recently, observation in Indonesia says that the
most polluted river in Indonesia is Ciliwung river which is located in the capital city of
Indonesia, Jakarta. There are many slum in the riverbank of Ciliwung which many people
live at, it makes many wastes are thrown directly into the river by them. Most of people in
Jakarta are highly dependent on this river as daily water source. This becomes one of big
problems in Indonesia which has not been able to overcome yet.
Water pollution in Ciliwung river, Jakarta

http://log.viva.co.id/news/read/379533-sungai-ciliwung-tercemar-limbah-b3