Most Firms Ignore Waste Treatment

Only 26 percent of a total of 2,173 medium and large-scale enterprises in the city regularly submit samples of their liquid waste for assessment, the Jakarta Environmental Mana gement

Agency has said. The remaining 1,602 enterprises failed to deliver reports of the liquid waste they produced as set out in gubernatorial decree No. 299/1996. The decree requires all enterprises pro ducing liquid waste to treat the waste before disposing of it into rivers. It also requires fi rms to send samples of the treated waste to the agency every three months.

The companies on the list include hotels, apartments, office buildings, restaurants, hospitals, and industrial plants. The above fi gures do not include regis tered small-scale enterprises such as commu nity markets, small workshops and small offi ces which amount up to at least, 15,845 concerns.

Worse still, out of 571 companies which have sent their samples to us, only 35 percent, or 199 companies, comply with the decree and send us the samples every three months. The rest submit the samples every four months, six months, or even only once a year. No wonder the quality of our river water is getting worse.

High levels of pollution in the city's 13 rivers is suspected of being behind the red tide phenomenon, which killed thousands of fish in Jakarta Bay in May.

The real issue here is whether the agency has the political will because the adminis tration has ignored the existing Law No. 23/1997 on the environment.

The law authorises all environment mana gement agencies to control the liquid waste treatment of any enterprises.

The law gave the administration the power to censure transgressing companies and the city could close companies down if they conti nue to ignore existing regulations.

The law says companies found to be polluting the environment with liquid waste are given six months to improve their treatment facilities. If they fail to meet the deadline, the agency has the power to close the waste treatment facility, the area of production causing the waste, or the entire production process.

Source: Developing English Competencies for Grade XI of Language Programme