Deadly Waters Citarum: Indonesian river
keeps textile industry’s dirty secrets
A garbage collector named Alo and his
son paddle their canoe through piles
of plastic garbage and animal carcasses
drifting on the sludgy surface of
Indonesia’s Citarum pronounced
Chittaroom river.
It’s often dubbed the world’s dirtiest river,
a final destination for industrial wastewater,
sewage and domestic rubbish.

The Citarum river starts at the picturesque
Cisanti reservoir, but as it winds through West
Java province for almost 300 km, it becomes
a shocking sight: heaps of plastic garbage
and its water being turned into
a disturbing mix of unpleasant colours as a result
of industrial waste from textile factories.

Hundreds of textile factories dump hazardous
waste, turning the water ominous shades of white,
black or brown in different parts of the Citarum.
Lenient environmental regulations and cheap
workforce attracted the industry in the region in the
1980s. It has provided the impoverished local
population with jobs and brought millions of dollars
to Indonesia’s economy, but it also transformed the
once pristine life-giving river into a toxic swamp.
The volume of waste has also led to soil erosion
and killed off nearly all the fish.

However, for some 27 million people living within
its basin, the Citarum remains the primary source
of fish, drinking water and rice field irrigation. With
no other choice, they continue to use it despite the
toxic chemicals and heavy metals that end up in
the river’s tributaries, canals and reservoirs. But it’s
not just industrial wastewater poisoning the
Citarum, locals frequently dump domestic trash and
sewage directly into the river.

The heavily polluted river remains the only source of water
for millions of Indonesians living on the on its banks.
They use it for drinking, cooking, farming
and other daily needs despite the severe health risks.

Although the government has stepped in with plans
to reverse the Citarum’s degradation, rogue
manufacturers still cut corners by dumping excess
waste under cover of night or by building hidden
drainpipes. Meanwhile, low paid men like Alo no
longer catch fish, now their hauls consist of trash
that they are forced to collect to survive.

In Indonesia, RTD’s Ekaterina Kozhakina meets Alo
and other locals affected by the Citarum’s pollution
and hears from environmental activists fighting
textile companies. She also commissions an
independent lab test on the water for a complete
picture of the river’s contamination.