15 Wells in Bogor Contaminated by Fuel; Water Turns Blue Like Pertamax
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Editor
7 September 2023 21:16 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Residents of Bogor Regency are facing more than the drought due to the long dry season. The residents of Pengasinan Village, Gunungsindur District now have to deal with another water-related problem, as the wells they use as clean water sources by smell like oil fuel.
The well water looks blue, similar to the color of Pertamax gasoline. According to residents, the situation has been going on for years.
"Currently there are around 15 wells that are polluted and can no longer be used. In fact, this water contamination has been going on for a very long time, around 7 years. The water in the wells looks a bit blue in color like Pertamax. Not only are we having difficulties getting water because of the drought, our wells' water has become like gasoline," one of the residents, Ersyad, said on Thursday, 7 September.
According to Irsyad, there have been samples taken of water that is suspected to be contaminated. In fact, they tried to ignite the water to check if it does have fuel content, and indeed the fire does.
"We suspect that this is due to water infiltration from the petrol tank at the petrol station. It's about a hundred meters away and we suspect there is a leak in the petrol station's holding tank," he said.
Because their wells are contaminated, Ersyad said that residents are forced to buy water for their daily supplies.
The Head of Gunungsindur District, Dace Hatomi, said that it is strongly suspected that the contamination of residents' wells came from fuel absorption in the fuel storage at one of the gas stations which is not far from residential areas.
"We will run a check, including at the gas station nearby. To avoid unwanted things, we will ask residents not to carry out burning or cooking activities near wells or water sources that are suspected of being contaminated with fuel," said Dace, who was visiting to check on one of the contaminated wells.
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