Cileungsi River Polluted with Waste; Residents Report Foams, Foul Smell

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Residents of Bojong Kulur Village in Gunung Putri, Bogor Regency, complained about the pollution of the Cileungsi River. They reported that the river was foamy and emitting a foul smell on Tuesday, July 26.

Kinan, one of the villagers, said that this had happened before. "Now it's happening again, with even more foam," he said in Gunung Putri as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 27.

Kinan said that the white foam waste appeared for a few minutes on Tuesday morning at around 08:30. "It wasn't there for long. There were plenty of foams, but they went away as we fan them out," he said.

The flow of white foams and suds came with a foul smell, similar to that of chemicals used to bleach clothes. Kinan said he choked from the stench.

Kinan suspected that the river was polluted by a factory on the edge of Cileungsi. It wasn't the first time that the river was polluted, he said. "In the morning, the water is clear. Then it would turn green at noon or in the afternoon."

Ade Yana Mulyana, head of Bogor Regency's Environmental Service, said they are planning to monitor the factory suspected of dumping wastes to the Cileungsi River using CCTV, collaborating with the Cileungsi-Cikeas River Care Community (KP2C).

"When there is pollution, we can identify the point of origin," he said.

ANTARA

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