Jakarta water polluted by mercury of illegal miners
Thursday, February 10 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
A top official of the West Java provincial administration warned on Wednesday that the water from Cisadane river which was consumed by the residents of Jakarta has been contaminated by mercury disposed of by the illegal gold miners in Pongkor area, Bogor regency, Kompas reported.
Supervision and rehabilitation head of the provincial environmental watchdog (Bapedalda) U Samsudin said in a hearing with the provincial legislature that the toxic chemical flowed into Cisadane river from Cisoka and Cikaniki rivers where the illegal miners processed the gold ore they extracted from the gold mine of state mining company PT Aneka Tambang in Pongkor.
The water from Cisadane which flows into the Java sea through Jakarta are taken by Jakarta's drinking water company PDAM Jaya to be processed into drinking water for the residents of the capital.
He warned of the impact of the contaminated water for the health of Jakarta people, citing that mercury content of Cisadane's water exceeded the maximum tolerable limits.
According to Samsudin, the number of illegal miners in Pongkor increased during the economic crisis, reaching 6,000 at the peak of the crisis but the number had dropped to 600 in December last year. (*)