Citarum river clogged with rubbish.

This river used to be a former Indonesian paradise, but it is now so polluted you can't even see the water. Millions of people use the river for drinking, washing and bathing. Clogged with household waste, toxic chemicals dumped by textile factories and dead animals, the river has lost 60 per cent of its fish stocks. Locals say textile factories illegally dump chemicals into the river at night and some nearby village wells contain four times the recommended safe levels of mercury.



At times, the water turns red, green, yellow and black because of the high concentration of dyes. It has been linked with increased cancer rates, as well as skin diseases, mental illness and slow development among local children.




For more pictures:
www.theguardian.com...#/?picture=340412052&index=0

reply to post by Agartha


Maybe they should start a project that an individual can put there trash in a container and that very container can be picked up and dumped at a central location? (sarcasm) But seriously, how freaking lazy are people?

Unreal. We are a vile disgusting species.

chrismarco
reply to post by Agartha

 

Maybe they should start a project that an individual can put there trash in a container and that very container can be picked up and dumped at a central location? (sarcasm) But seriously, how freaking lazy are people?

I don't think it's just people being lazy, maybe they need to be educated. And it's more than domestic rubbish: the river also contains industrial waste and chemical pollution.

Whatever it is they seriously need to do something about it, if that guy had not been on a boat when they took the picture, I would have thought he was on a landfill site.

Tucket
Unreal. We are a vile disgusting species.

We are a selfish species that live for today without thinking what future generations may have to face.

reply to post by Agartha


I can see a kid needing to be educated...but a grown up...that's just lazy and irresponsible...we have plenty of educated people in the United States who are educated around proper refuse removal and yet some still will drop off a air conditioner on the side of a back road...

Vermin begat vermin.can a rat change its nature?
Can we change OURS?
Aparently not.............

reply to post by Agartha

Wiki

Water supply and sanitation in Indonesia is characterized by poor levels of access and service quality. Over 40 million people lack access to an improved water source and more than 110 million of the country’s 240 million population has no access to improved sanitation.[1] With only 2% access to sewerage in urban areas is one of the lowest in the world among middle-income countries. Pollution is widespread on Bali and Java. Women in Jakarta report spending US$ 11 per month on boiling water, implying a significant burden for the poor.
The estimated level of public investment of only US$2 per capita a year in 2005 was insufficient to expand services significantly and to properly maintain assets. Furthermore, policy responsibilities are fragmented between different Ministries. Since decentralization was introduced in Indonesia in 2001 local governments (districts) have gained responsibility for water supply and sanitation. However, this has so far not translated into an improvement of access or service quality, mainly because devolution of responsibilities has not been followed by adequate fund channeling mechanisms to carry out this responsibility. Local utilities remain weak.

It is sad that they have no uniform system in place to keep this from happening.

reply to post by Agartha


Sad indeed and as you mention, education is part of this too, as in the people are genuinely unaware just how dangerous these polluted rivers are. I watched a good doc on India called World Toilet Crisis about their sewage issues and when a leader went to the villages to tell them their children were getting sick from drinking the tainted water that runs through the little canals in the street, the people acted surprised as if they had no idea? Crazy but real, unaware of the severity. So how we view things is part of this disconnect too. We see these pics and think, just pick the stuff up, but they have no dump system. It is just surreal and makes me wonder why in 2014 it isn't being addressed effectively.

I noticed that most of the debris is plastic containers/bags. It is too bad it's not all biodegradable or even better hemp plastic. If we can't stop the littering at least change it's ingredients. I am assuming they do not practice recycling over there? They should start that up because it will address the problem plus create jobs.

I say we create an international holiday week, where people around the globe with volunteers would tackle cleaning these waterways up. Or better yet, make a one year goal to clean these rivers up. Perhaps we need an international panel/organization on water care too, non political of course. C'mon Gates, Buffet, Soros, Koch bros let's put some resources and funding in these areas.

While I think the EPA over reaches alot here in the USA, this is what happens
without such an orginsation like them. Alot of corperations go to 3rd world
countries so they can just dump their waste and not have to pay for it.
Just look what they get away with.
Thanks Ed

AnteBellum

It is sad that they have no uniform system in place to keep this from happening.

It is very sad indeed: 110 million Indonesians have no access to sewage and clean water. Poor people are not going to think where they throw their rubbish, they are too busy surviving.



reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Spec, I did watch a similar documentary about India (maybe the same one) where people were defecating in rivers and streams and did not know they were making themselves ill. Maybe the people of Indonesia need educating about the dangers of bacteria too but, like I said above, poor people are usually too busy trying to have enough food to eat, they just have no time to think about the environment.

I hope a charity of some sort will help clean those rivers; there is a program on British television this week about it, hopefully it will now hit mainstream news.

darepairman
While I think the EPA over reaches alot here in the USA, this is what happens
without such an orginsation like them. Alot of corperations go to 3rd world
countries so they can just dump their waste and not have to pay for it.
Just look what they get away with.
Thanks Ed

True about rubbish being shipped to poor countries to be dealt with.....but recycling companies say they do pay the countries to dispose of it.

reply to post by Agartha


That picture SpecOpt posted doesn't even look like a river, it feels like you could just walk over it all.

I wonder if there is a plan for instituting a recycling center in some areas. That may help with issues of the trash and power generation would be a supplement to the system there already.

AnteBellum
reply to post by Agartha

 

That picture SpecOpt posted doesn't even look like a river, it feels like you could just walk over it all.

I wonder if there is a plan for instituting a recycling center in some areas. That may help with issues of the trash and power generation would be a supplement to the system there already.

I don't think those 110 million of Indonesians that live like in the pic Spec posted will care one bit about recycling, really......look at the conditions they live in, they are probably just focused on getting some food in their stomachs.

The local government need to start showing people they are making themselves ill, just like the people in India were shown regarding their defecating in rivers they used for washing and drinking.

But one of the main problems will still remain in place: industrial waste.

It is a shame that any government could allow this filth and danger to its people. It is shocking and inhumane!!!!!

chrismarco
reply to post by Agartha

 

Maybe they should start a project that an individual can put there trash in a container and that very container can be picked up and dumped at a central location? (sarcasm) But seriously, how freaking lazy are people?

Did you even read the article? A lot of this is illegal dumping by factories.

Night Star
It is a shame that any government could allow this filth and danger to its people. It is shocking and inhumane!!!!!

This happens in many developing countries........I have been to West Africa and seen something similar there......it was eye opening and painful.

Look at these children swimming in the Citarum river:



Actions to clean the river:
Because the factories provide jobs for people along the Citarum, there has been little incentive for a public outcry. The abundant labor supply means employers can immediately quash labor disturbances; a strike against a waste offender would result in job loss and wouldn’t clean up the river.

The issues go beyond the offenders; Java simply lacks the infrastructure and means to do it right. As long as residents of the island lack access to sewerage, they will defecate in the river. With no official waste disposal system, garbage will continue to be left along the banks while used bottles and cans are tossed in the waterway.

The future:
Thanks to the efforts of the Asian Development Bank and cooperation from local government, the Citarum River’s condition has improved. Progress has been slow, but steady; there is a visible improvement, but much work remains to be done.

Debris no longer lingers in huge flotillas of trash, but factories along the banks still expel toxic waste. The river continues to serve as a repository for human excrement for the areas of Java lacking modern sewer systems.Can the Citarum River be saved? It is achievable, but there is no single answer to the solution. Success requires cooperation from factories, farms, government, and inhabitants alike.

Read more here: sometimes-interesting.com...