Bekasi. The Cilemahabang River in Bekasi has earned notoriety as one of the most polluted rivers in West Java due to industrial waste and urban garbage, but it appears that people living on its banks continue to depend on it for sanitation.

Some residents in Sukaraya Village have no access to clean water and professionally managed sanitation services and they use Cilemahabang River water for bathing, washing clothes and other uses, despite parts of the river’s surface being visibly green with algae.

They said water quality in the river has been deteriorating over the last four years. Some alleged that industrial waste from a nearby factory is the main source of pollution in the river.

When the Jakarta Globe came to the village on September 9, villagers voiced demand for the Bekasi district government to investigate and take restorative actions in cleaning up the water.