West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil: Citarum Water Conditions Have Improved

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil (Photo: Antara)

PURWAKARTA - West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil stated that the current condition of Citarum River water has improved compared to conditions in the last few years.

"The initial condition of the Citarum River in 2018 was heavily polluted, equivalent to 33.43 points of IKA. Then at the end of 2021, its condition will improve with the quality reaching 50.13 points or light pollution," he said when receiving a visit from the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. Wahyu Sakti Trenggono Fisheries in Purwakarta Regency, reported by Antara, Tuesday, March 15.

He said that the restoration of Citarum River water is important to know, not only because of its status as the longest river in West Java. However, because this river is the source of life for 18 million residents in 13 regencies/cities in West Java that are crossed by the watershed.

This river is also vital to the prosperity of 682,227 hectares of rice fields in 1,454 villages.

The government itself has set the ultimate goal as the main indicator and target of success from the implementation of the PPK Das Citarum action plan, namely Water Quality Class II, or equivalent to an IKA value of 60 points which is targeted to be achieved by the end of 2025.

This class II water quality allows the water to be used for water recreation infrastructure or facilities, freshwater fish cultivation, animal husbandry, irrigating crops, and or other uses that require the same water quality.

The governor, who also serves as the Commander of the Citarum Harum Task Force, said that with the Citarum River's water conditions which have now improved, the ultimate goal of achieving Class II Water Quality has almost been achieved.

According to him, the West Java Provincial Government and the Citarum Task Force will continue to strive so that the Citarum River IKA of 9.87 points can be achieved in the near future.

He said that there are 31,700.39 hectares of critical land along the Citarum watershed that have been reforested. This figure is above the 2021 target which only reached 15,647.45 hectares. Meanwhile, the 2025 target is to reforest 80,174.99 hectares of land.

In the Handling of Livestock Waste, the Citarum Task Force has handled livestock waste, especially cattle as many as 26,947 cows. This figure is higher than the 2021 target of 26,864 cows. While the 2025 target is 53,052 cows. For the handling of floating net cages, the Citarum Task Force has succeeded in the KJA handling program. Until 2021, it has handled KJA, the number of which has reached 33,868 units from the target of 28,243 units. Meanwhile, in 2025 the handling is targeted to reach 141,219 units.

In the water resources management and tourism program, the Citarum Task Force managed to clear up 90 percent of the remaining puddles of water from the 70 percent target. 0.7 m3/d addition of raw water from the target of 1.4 m3/d and 4 locations of water tourism destinations from the target 5 locations.

The 2025 target is expected to clear up the remaining 20 percent inundation area, add 3.7 m3/d of raw water and 5 tourist destination locations.

On the law enforcement side, there were 204 cases of complaints from a target of 455 cases. A total of 34 civil/criminal cases from a target of 29 cases, and 87 cases of administrative sanctions from a target of 105 cases.