Lapindo?s mud water dumped into Madura Strait

The hot mud water flowing from Lapindo Brantas Inc? exploration well has finally been dumped into a nearby sea as the best alternative way of solving the mud problem, Koran Tempo reported Saturday.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro confirmed Friday that the hot mud water had been channeled into the sea because many ways of handling the mud problem had been applied but been in vain, including the last scenario in which efforts were made to clogging up the sources of mudflow.

?A measure to channel the mud (water) into the sea has been taken as one of the alternative ways (of solving the mud problem) because the scenario (of clogging up the source of the mudflow) has failed,? he said.

The channeling of the mud water into the sea in Madura Strait started four days ago. The water was channeled through two rivers, Wangkal and Renokenongo Rivers before finally being dumped into the sea.

The daily reported that the mud water channeled through Renokenongo River might pollute hectares of nearby ponds and ricefields because the water remained mixed with mud.

Meanwhile, Lapindo said that the mud water was channeled into the sea two days after being treated to ensure that the water was safe for marine creatures. For treatment purposes, the company used a water treatment facility from Australia.

Minister of Marine and Fishery Freddy Numberi warned that the mud water should not be dump into the sea. (*)