Talk About Contaminated Drinking Water, You Haven"t Heard Anything Yet
Chances are you've never heard of the Citarum River, and you probably don't know where it's located.
To the people living in the textile district of west Java, it's the water source they rely on to take care of cooking and drinking needs, bathing, laundry, and watering their crops.
Although most peasant families in the area use water from wells, the well water comes from the Citarum.
Sadly for the people who count on this water, the Citarum is considered the dirtiest river in the world.
The problem lies with the government who has encouraged textile factories to locate in this area, but which hasn't regulated what these industrial facilities dump into the river.
Around 90% of the 600 factories located near the river and its tributaries have no efficient waste treatment systems in place.
These industries discharge an estimated 280 tons of waste into the waterways every day.
This waste includes dyes which change the color of the water from green to red to blue and a rainbow of other colors.
It's no wonder that so many of the local residents are complaining about the quality of the water.
However, they don't complain too loudly, because most families have someone working in the plants.
For most of the local peasant farmers, the dye and other chemicals in the water have largely curtailed their ability to grow crops on land irrigated with the contaminated H2O.
In addition, bathing in the polluted water has resulted in hundreds of cases of severe skin rashes, with children chronically having them from head to toe.
Although mothers worry about the effects the water is having on their families, they are unable to do anything about the problems.
It's the only water they have available, so they have no choice but to use it.
Although factories are supposed to treat all of their water before they dispose of it, this isn't being done, and government officials aren't enforcing the few regulations that have been imposed.
Factories were forced to make financial compensation to residents, but these payments only averaged from $3 to $5 per family.
Even though prominent international companies own the factories, companies that rake in millions of dollars every year, they are not being required to treat the local people fairly.
The Bandung Institute of Technology has discovered that the river water is loaded with heavy metals, such as mercury, zinc, chrome, and lead.
In fact, the water was tested for mercury, and it was found that it contained 100 times the legal limit of that lethal element.
It's estimated that 25 million people get their water from from this contaminated river, a problem that the government is just now starting to look at.
To the people living in the textile district of west Java, it's the water source they rely on to take care of cooking and drinking needs, bathing, laundry, and watering their crops.
Although most peasant families in the area use water from wells, the well water comes from the Citarum.
Sadly for the people who count on this water, the Citarum is considered the dirtiest river in the world.
The problem lies with the government who has encouraged textile factories to locate in this area, but which hasn't regulated what these industrial facilities dump into the river.
Around 90% of the 600 factories located near the river and its tributaries have no efficient waste treatment systems in place.
These industries discharge an estimated 280 tons of waste into the waterways every day.
This waste includes dyes which change the color of the water from green to red to blue and a rainbow of other colors.
It's no wonder that so many of the local residents are complaining about the quality of the water.
However, they don't complain too loudly, because most families have someone working in the plants.
For most of the local peasant farmers, the dye and other chemicals in the water have largely curtailed their ability to grow crops on land irrigated with the contaminated H2O.
In addition, bathing in the polluted water has resulted in hundreds of cases of severe skin rashes, with children chronically having them from head to toe.
Although mothers worry about the effects the water is having on their families, they are unable to do anything about the problems.
It's the only water they have available, so they have no choice but to use it.
Although factories are supposed to treat all of their water before they dispose of it, this isn't being done, and government officials aren't enforcing the few regulations that have been imposed.
Factories were forced to make financial compensation to residents, but these payments only averaged from $3 to $5 per family.
Even though prominent international companies own the factories, companies that rake in millions of dollars every year, they are not being required to treat the local people fairly.
The Bandung Institute of Technology has discovered that the river water is loaded with heavy metals, such as mercury, zinc, chrome, and lead.
In fact, the water was tested for mercury, and it was found that it contained 100 times the legal limit of that lethal element.
It's estimated that 25 million people get their water from from this contaminated river, a problem that the government is just now starting to look at.
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