Pongkor illegal gold miners pollute water for Jakarta people
Thursday, February 10 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The water of the Cisadane River, the main source of clean water for the Jakarta community, has been heavily polluted by mercury resulting from the activities of traditional gold miners in the Pongkor area, Bogor regency, West Java.
The West Java office of the environmental impact assessment agency (Bapedal) said that the level of the mercury was already at 3.33 ppb, or beyond the 1 ppb threshold level.
The agency feared if no measures were immediately taken, there could be a widespread disease in Indonesia.
Bapedal revealed the problem during a hearing session with the West Java parliament in Bandung on Wednesday.(*)