Introduction
The Citarum River is a 300 kilometre long river located in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. For hundreds of years, the river has been an important source of water supply for the Indonesian people. Even today, the river continues to provide water for cooking, drinking, agriculture, and electricity generation for about 30 million residents. Due to Indonesia’s poor waste disposal structure, the nearby residents and manufacturers started using the river as a dumping ground, making the Citarum River one of the most polluted rivers in the world. The Citarum River is full of trash, detergents, and hazardous chemicals that pose a threat to the people and marine life. Numerous chemicals including lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, mercury and pesticides are found in the water. Field investigations found levels of lead more than 1,000 times the USPEA standard. The APN Science Bulletin found that aluminum, manganese, and iron concentrations in the river were almost triple the world average. |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MamUZFz9E3g