Polluted canal threatens men, animals

By Protus Tanuhandaru

Jakarta, The Point

Filled by large amounts of trash dumped irresponsibly, the flat canal in West Jakarta joined by two rivers, the Angke and the Ciliwung, has become toxic, threatening the livelihoods of people living along the embankments and of animals in the Muara Angke Wildlife preservation area.

"Appearing extremely filthy, the water of the canal is not safe for anything, particularly for drinking," said Hendra Michael Aguan, the awareness officer for waste and sewage management of the NGO, Flora Fauna International, when interviewed by The Point over the weekend.

The supposedly five-meter-deep canal -- built to prevent flooding -- has become a conduit full of waste, either floating or sitting on the floor of the canal. Floating plastic trash and foam flow along the river, heading to the sea but mostly trapped in the Wildlife preservation area.

Of this floating trash, instant noodle wrappers constitute the highest number, showing that people living nearby subsisting on instant noodles.

Second highest in number are plastic bottles of a variety brands, indicating at least that the community members hardly ever drink the filthy water. But unlike humans, monkeys and birds, living in the 25-hectares wildlife preservation area, "cannot differentiate between what's safe to eat and what's not," said Aguan.

Turning their diets into trash by scavenging for whatever they think they can eat, "these animals, should they eat something really toxic, would die for sure," he added. Yet what the public should know is that some types of food are processed or cooked using the filhty water.

Tempe (soy bean cake), a traditional food consumed by most people, is washed and fermented using the water taken from the foetid river.

Along the canal, one small workshop fermenting the beans apparently can produce at least five 40-gallon drums of the beans.

Green clams, boiled using the water, are distributed not only to the traditional market, but also to "such big supermarket as Carrefour, the supermarket originating in France," said Aguan.

"Having cooked the clams, fishermen pack them on ice and send them to the market," said Wawan, a fisherman living near the wildlife preservation area, to The Point Saturday.

Community members, unwilling to carry their waste and dump it in places already provided accordingly, simply throw their waste into the river -- the same river in which they take bathe and excrete.

"The awareness of the locals, about dumping waste where it should be dumped is really low," said Ahmad Pahrozi, a resident of Kapuk Muara, who is helping to manage waste disposal. (PRT)