Good News From Ridwan Kamil: Citarum River Water Can Be Used For Fish Cultivation

Citarum River. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - West Java Governor M Ridwan Kamil said that Citarum River water can be used to cultivate freshwater fish and irrigate plants because the pollution level has dropped and the quality has improved. West Java received in Bandung, he said that the initial target of the Citarum Watershed (DAS) restoration program was to reduce the pollution level to moderately polluted but now the river water is classified as lightly polluted. In a dialogue event at the climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the Governor of West Java explained the government's efforts to restore the condition of the Citarum watershed through the Citarum Harum Program. Water Quality (IKA) 33.43 points. However, the Citarum River water quality since 2020 has continued to improve thanks to various restoration efforts carried out and now the river water has entered the lightly polluted category with an IKA of 55 points.​​​​The Governor said, Citarum watershed restoration efforts that have been carried out include reforesting 26,231.24 hectares of critical land along watersheds. The government targets that by 2025 the area of ​​reforested land along the Citarum watershed will reach 80,174.99 hectares. Citarum watershed recovery efforts also include waste management of up to 2,700 tons per day and the handling of 33,868 units of floating net cages.

Pollution Reduction

Head of the West Java Provincial Environment Agency, Prima Mayaningtyas, mentioned several parameters that indicate that industrial waste pollution in the Citarum watershed has dropped significantly in 2020. He added that domestic waste contamination in the Citarum River also decreased from 2019 to 2020. In the last two years, he explained, the waste entering the Citarum River was also reduced by 42 percent. The Citarum River, which is about 270 kilometers long, is a source of water for 18 million residents in 13 districts and cities in West Java. The Citarum Harum Task Force targets the quality of Citarum River water to increase with an IKA of 60 points by the end of the 2025 planning period.