Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Notable case, Bandung / Majalaya, West Java, Indonesia

Citarum River

Ci Tarum

West Java's main river, which takes the discharges of more than two thousand industries, most of them textile, and the waste of millions of residents. It supplies 80% of the surface water used in Jakarta and in 2013 was listed among the ten most polluted places in the world.

Status
Remediation under way
People affected
5,000,0002
Media
surface water, sediment, living organisms
Kind of site
textiles, chemical works, landfill
  1. Area. A river 270 km long with a basin of 6,906 km² (Wikipedia; the WEPA network gives 350 km and 6,600 km²). The map point is the mouth; industrial discharges are concentrated in the upper reach, around Bandung, Cimahi and Majalaya.
  2. People affected. Inhabitants of the basin, an approximate figure given by Wikipedia without a year.

Contaminants

Metals

Metalloids

Organic compounds

Mixtures and waste

Status

Remediation under way

The Citarum Harum programme, launched in 2018 with 7,000 soldiers deployed, aimed to clean up the river by 2025. The sources read give no official assessment of the outcome at that date.

Story

The Citarum rises in the mountains south of Bandung and flows into the Java Sea. About 5 million people live in the basin; its water feeds three large dams, irrigates paddies that yield 5% of Indonesia's rice and supplies 80% of Jakarta's surface water.

Since industrialisation the upper reach has held more than 2,000 plants, mainly textile mills in Bandung and Cimahi, which discharge into the river along with the cities' untreated sewage. Lead, mercury and arsenic have been found in the water, together with nonylphenol, phthalates, PCB 180 and paranitrophenol. Skin diseases are reported among residents of Majalaya; according to Wikipedia fish populations have fallen by 60% since 2008.

In 2008 the Asian Development Bank approved a 500 million dollar loan for managing the basin; in 2011 the government announced a 35 trillion rupiah plan over fifteen years. In 2013 the report by the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland placed the Citarum among the world's ten worst toxic threats. In 2018 Presidential Regulation No. 15 launched the Citarum Harum programme, with the army deployed for clean-up and for checks on discharges.

Timeline

  1. 2008The Asian Development Bank approves a 500 million dollar loan for the basin.
  2. 2011The government announces a 35 trillion rupiah revitalisation programme over 15 years.
  3. 2013The Citarum enters the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross list of the world's ten most polluted places.
  4. 2018Presidential Regulation No. 15: the Citarum Harum programme starts, with a 2025 target.

Health

The 2013 report, as relayed by the Jakarta Post, notes skin diseases among residents of Majalaya. No epidemiological studies were found in the sources read.

Remediation

  1. 2018river clean-up and discharge controlCitarum Harum programme: removal of waste from the channel and checks on industrial discharges, with 7,000 soldiers deployed; revision of the total maximum daily loads (TMDL).

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.

Plants

Fungi

The rest are on the contaminant pages.

Sources

  1. Pollution Load Management in Citarum River, Indonesia, Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA), 2020
  2. Citarum, Kalimantan world's most polluted, The Jakarta Post, 2013
  3. Citarum, Wikipedia, 2026

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.