cytarum- the river flows in Indonesia and West Java. The length of the river is 300 kilometers. It is the dirtiest river in the world.
How did the river become polluted?
Once it was a beautiful and clean river that fed fish and supplied fresh water to millions of people living along the river. The pollution of the river began with rapid industrialization in the late 1980s. The once beautiful Citarum became a sewer for the factories located along the river, in a short period of time, approximately 500 large factories were built along the river, each of which poured waste into the river. Subjected to the herd instinct, following the factories, they began to throw garbage into the river and the population living along the river, which is five million people. As a result, the Tsitarum River is in an ecological disaster, tons of household garbage have accumulated in the river. The mirror of the river is completely covered with a thick layer of debris.
Diseases in the river
I think it will not surprise anyone that such an amount of dirt contributes to a huge number of diseases. And the result is a host of waterborne diseases, including such dangerous ones as dysentery, typhoid, cholera and hepatitis.
- On December 5, 2008, the Asian Development Bank provided a $500 million loan to clean up the river.
- In 2008, the Citarum River was recognized as the dirtiest river in the world.
The dirtiest river in the world November 1st, 2017
It's no secret that man's influence on nature is great, and often mother nature is inflicted enormous harm. Now it is not uncommon for places on the planet where environmental pollution has taken on grandiose proportions.
For example, the Citarum River is a landmark of Indonesia, which should not be proud of...
It is a well-known fact that certain human activities have a detrimental effect on nature. People over the past 50 years have polluted the environment, as they could not in the entire previous history of human existence. There are many cases when a person, by his influence, has subjected to the disappearance or drying up of many lakes or rivers. What is the Aral Sea worth, of which only 10% remains.
It's amazing how in a few decades people have been able to pollute the once picturesque Indonesian places. You look at the river and do not believe that there is water under the "garbage blanket". We learn some amazing facts about the most polluted water source on Earth and the life of Indonesians on its shores.
Indonesia is an island state in Asia, with numerous large and small islands washed by salty ocean waters. It is clear that in such a situation fresh water worth its weight in gold. There has never been a lack of it, there are many rivers in Indonesia, although the water level in them is seasonal. On one of the largest Indonesian islands, the island of Java, the main water artery supplying people with water for all needs (including drinking), was the Citarum River. But in the recent past, from a full-flowing beautiful river, it turned into a fetid stream, in which, due to tons of rotting garbage, water is not visible at all.
The river is located in West Java, Indonesia. This is the dirtiest river in the world. However, water is used as a water supply, to support agriculture, for industrial purposes, etc. The Citarum River is not very large. The width is only 10 m maximum, the depth is even less - 5 m, but its length reaches 300 km. It originates in Indonesia, stretches along the entire western Java, and also flows near the capital Jakarta. The river flows into the Java Sea.
The reason for such a sad environmental situation was industrialization, which began in 1980. Now more than 500 organizations dump their waste into the rivers. In addition, all household waste and sewage ends up in Citarum. This is the waste of more than 9 million people! In 2008, funds were allocated to clean up the river, but this did little to help. It will take more than one decade to completely clean up the river.
Not so long ago, the river was rich in fish, trills and singing birds, flowering gardens grew on the banks. Now you can see only polyethylene trash. The fish has long since died. This is where bacteria thrive.
Blame the industrialization of Indonesia. The country began to develop rapidly, building numerous industrial plants and factories (more than five hundred). A large percentage of them fall on the island of Java. Water is needed in production, so many industrial enterprises were also built along the banks of the Citarum River. Either in pursuit of profit, or because of the unwillingness to take care of the environment, or because of the stupidity of the authorities, but absolutely all enterprises did not build expensive treatment facilities and engage in waste disposal, but took the path of least resistance: all waste production fell down and merged into the river. The cities also contributed, replenishing the water level in the Citarum with sewage.
You see the result. Stinking and decomposing in a fetid slurry - it's hard to call it water - garbage, like a fur coat, covers the entire three hundred-kilometer riverbed.
Imagine what it is like for the inhabitants of small coastal communities, for whom the waters of Citarum are the only source of water, which is used not only for watering agricultural land, but also for washing, cleaning and drinking.
Nightmare! But, as you know, a person can get used to a lot and adapt to the most terrible conditions of existence. That is what happened this time as well. Practically impoverished people have no opportunity to move to other places, so they can only survive in such extreme conditions.
Although this is very difficult, since the polluted river has led to the almost complete disappearance of coastal vegetation, and, accordingly, to the disappearance of animals and birds that used to live in these places.
The fish are gone too. If "foolishly" any school swims into these waters, it quickly floats up belly up. Local residents can only rejoice at such a "lifeless harvest."
Children are children, even in such conditions they are able to find entertainment for themselves, for example, to swim.
Adults, too, have managed to find a small benefit from the polluted river. They get into boats and go fishing. No, not for fish, but for "garbage". People toss themselves in the floating waste and try to find something they can sell for next to nothing, such as plastic containers. Someone is lucky - he manages to find things that can be sold, of course, having previously cleaned and given them a marketable appearance. And leave something for themselves.
Citarum's water was also used to irrigate rice fields, and rice here is the only source of income for many. But what kind of harvest can there be if the fields are irrigated with water in which the content harmful impurities many times higher than allowable rate? But local residents also drink such water, which, of course, does not add to their health. Of course, the water is boiled before drinking. But this only kills harmful bacteria, but leaves salts of heavy metals and various toxic impurities. These places have the highest percentage of patients with many serious diseases.
The Indonesian authorities understand that it is urgent to take measures to "revitalize" the Citarum River, but this requires huge funds, which the country does not have. Therefore, for now, the Indonesians have a disgusting attraction that is known to the whole world, and a big headache for the population forced to live with it.
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The Citarum River, referred to as the dirtiest river in the world, yes, yes, there are the cleanest, deepest rivers, and in this article we will look and talk about the most polluted river on the planet. The famous river Citarum is located in the small province of West Java, on the island of Java. ( 11 photos of the dirtiest river).
Agree not the most desired status of the heroine of our today's article. But it has already happened that a dirtier place, or rather a river, was not found on our entire non-voluminous Earth. Just look at this photo, it seems that there is no water here at all, only a solid carpet of garbage, as if this is not a river at all, but another dump.
Small settlements are located on the banks of this river, of course you cannot call them rich. So far, these are the only people who are somehow engaged in cleaning the local waters from piles of garbage. The fact is that the only way to exist is to work on the river Citarum. Every day they get into boats and go along the river, in search of everything they can find and then sell. There is no waste recycling plant anywhere in the vicinity.
This means that the resident sells everything found as a once-used product. Well, what do they manage to find in such a dump, some kind of gloves, maybe shoes, spare parts upholstered furniture, nevertheless, the legs of the chair, and other similar things, will be useful to someone. Of course, the profit from such work cannot be great, the maximum that a local resident manages to gain is no more than 2-4 feet a day, which is negligible, but they work for the good of nature, and such work is priceless.
The population of the province, in which the dirtiest river flows, is no more than 45 thousand permanent residents. The Tsitarum River is very small, the width of the river reaches a maximum of 10 meters and the depth is even less, about 5 meters in the basin, but the length of the river reaches 300 km. And for the entire length of the river, we see only garbage and nothing more, this is a breathtaking sight. The dirtiest river in the world is the Citarum.
We can observe the result of careless human activity in this photo. More than 5 million people live at the source of the Citarum River, and several large industrial plants. Despite the fact that we fly into space, and in the yard for the 21st century, for some reason people are used to throwing garbage where they live. All sewers, industrial waste from enterprises, everything that a person no longer needs will certainly fall into this river.
Once upon a time, like in other rivers familiar to us, fish walked here in shoals, birds sang trills and picturesque gardens bloomed on the banks, and now we see only plastic bottles and other rubbish. And fish have not been found in these parts for a long time, only occasionally there are representatives of fish swimming in a non-standard position, belly up. Man literally ruined the entire local fauna, and only bacteria can exist in such an environment.
We all know that any abandoned landfill inevitably becomes a hotbed of infection and disease, and what can we say about a trash can in the water, where all processes proceed many times faster. Every day people expose themselves to the threat of some kind of disease. Everything would be fine, but the waters of Citarum feed coastal waters, automatically infecting and exterminating all life in the area for tens of kilometers! In this way dirtiest river in the world turns into the most dangerous river of the Earth.
And it all started in the 1980s, from the time of centralization, then large factory enterprises were built. But everything depends on this river Agriculture in the local areas. The local hydroelectric power station also depends on the Tsitarum River, the management of which is seriously concerned about the further existence of the station, the fact is that the amount of garbage that is in the river significantly interferes with the normal operation of the hydroelectric power station.
Although certain funds have already been allocated for water purification in the river, no significant results are yet to be seen. In 2008, the Asian Development Bank allocated $500 million to clean up the Citarum River from debris. The mouth of the dirtiest river in the world flows into the inter-island sea Pacific Ocean- Java Sea.
This is what the dirtiest river in the world, the Citarum River looks like. We still hope for the near restoration of the ecology of the river. Stay with us and enjoy your travel experiences.
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