"Of the 52 rivers monitored, nearly 30 percent of them have shown pollution increases from being medium to heavily polluted," said the Ministry`s official, Henry Bastaman, here on Thursday.
Bastaman further explained that the river water pollution is measured by the high increase in domestic waste, although in some rivers it is also due to mining activities.
Bastaman added that the intensity of increased water pollution is due to the rising mining activities, especially in eastern regions such as Maluku and Papua.
In 2009, Papua, which was ranked first for its environmental quality, dropped two spots due to the increasing pollution of its river water.
Polluted rivers in Papua province are the Mamberamo River and Sentani Lake. The government has been concentrating on improving the river water quality index in Java Island and neglecting the eastern Indonesia region, it is believed.
The rising trend of river water pollution can also be attributed to the increase in activities that burden river water and the rising number of residential areas being concentrated in watershed areas.
"Despite intense efforts carried out by us, pollution is still quite heavy, so this should be taken as a warning sign," he added.
One of the efforts made by the Ministry of Environment is to alert the regional governments to improve the water quality measurement as a policy base in each region.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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