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The gargantuan task of cleaning Indonesia’s Citarum river

Seven thousand military personnel pressed into service to clean up one of the world’s most polluted rivers.

Syarina Hasibuan
Heavy equipments are used to clean up the river, but new trash comes in every time. Widodo wants the Citarum river to be clean and drinkable in seven years. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]

By Syarina Hasibuan

Published On 22 Mar 2018

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West Java, Indonesia – Indonesian President Joko Widodo earlier this year started an ambitious programme of cleaning up an almost 300km stretch of Citarum River, labelled as one of the most polluted rivers in the world.

Pollution comes from many sources: from everyday garbage and domestic waste to thousands of factories dumping their poorly managed waste into the river.

Up to 500,000 cubic metre of rubbish ends up in Citarum river annually, and heavy metal contamination in the water coming from the factory waste has reached critical level.

About 27 million people rely on the river – the longest in West Java province – for irrigation, drinking water and other daily needs, with nearly 80 percent of the capital Jakarta’s supposedly ‘clean water’ sourced from the river.

This is not the first time the government has come up with clean-up programme.

Millions of dollars have been poured into the project before, but with the lack of coordination, maintenance and enforcement, the problem has persisted.

The government, however, is hopeful that this time will be different.

Syarina Hasibuan
Another problem that needs to be tackled is where to dump the trash? [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
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Syarina Hasibuan
Jajang, 16, along with other people from his village has been using Citarum River to bath, wash dishes and clothes. He is suffering from skin disease from using the polluted water. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
Syarina Hasibuan
About 27 million people rely on the river - the longest in West Java province - for irrigation, drinking water and other daily needs. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
Syarina Hasibuan
More than 500,000 cubic metre of trash is dumped in the river annually. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
Syarina Hasibuan
Seven thousand military personnel have been deployed to clean up the river. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
Syarina Hasibuan
Citarum is divided into 23 sectors for the clean-up programme. Yudi Zanibar is the military commander of sector IV and he is in charge of cleaning 14km stretch of the river. He says every day endless piles of trash enter his territory. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
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Syarina Hasibuan
After heavy rains, once the river subsides, it leaves huge piles of trash on the river banks. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
Syarina Hasibuan
During the rainy seasons, the water floods houses located near the river bank. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
Syarina Hasibuan
Citarum suffers from heavy sedimentation in several areas, which causes the river to overflow during the rainy season. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]
Syarina Hasibuan
Rubbish dumpsites dot the river bank. People generally pile up the trash and burn them on the river side further polluting it. [Syarina Hasibuan/Al Jazeera]