Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry highlighted an improvement in the water quality index (WQI) in 2023 as compared to 2022, as was apparent from an increase in water quality in provinces, districts, and cities.

The ministry’s Director General of Environmental Pollution and Damage Control Sigit Reliantoro stated here on Tuesday that the WQI in provinces increased, from 41 percent to 50 percent in 2023.

Meanwhile, the district and city WQI increased, from 44 percent to 56 percent, showing improvement in the environmental quality.

Based on the ministry's data, the total WQI in 2023 had reached 54.59 points, an increase from 53.88 points in the previous year. The results are based on 347 units of online and real-time water quality monitoring system ONLIMO installed and 14 thousand monitoring points.

Reliantoro explained that a matrix comparison of the water quality change between 2022 and 2023 showed that 18 percent of the monitoring points showed improvements, while the quality remained unchanged in 67 percent of the points, and 15 percent showed a decline in quality.

Water areas that show improvements include the Dangin River in Bali, Bener River in Central Java, some points in Citarum River, and Ciliwung River in West Java.

Meanwhile, Talang Sebaris River in Bengkulu, Pikatan River in East Java, and Kepoh River and Ulim River in Bangka Belitung Islands showed significant improvement in terms of the water quality, from earlier being polluted to being of decent quality.

Furthermore, a monitoring point in the Nipa-Nipa River in South Sulawesi showed an extreme decline in water quality.

"We also convey this information to the local governments, so they can respond with programs to improve areas where the quality declined," Reliantoro stated.

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Translator: Prisca V, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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