The World's Dirtiest River | Unreported World

today we take you to the world's most polluted river 35 million people rely on the Sitaram River on the island of Java Indonesia but it's become a toxic river of waste Shea roads went to the island for this unreported world classic in April 2014 [Music] 6 a.m. and I'm on the chittaram river with Herman and his son Alec you can barely see the river it's just covered in plastic there's all kinds of rubbish here from shoes nappies it's all household rubbish this is stuff that people have thrown in and then every now and then you come across something like that dead fish just floating what what is it big when was the last time you actually caught some decent fish in this river there are my mornings at that under nap but funny nowadays Herman into thirteen-year-old son are after a different kind of catch they're scavenging for rubbish what kind of plastic are you looking for yeah wrong so adorable yeah Caracara congenital again among too this is said to be the world's most polluted river 40 years ago when Herman started fishing it was easy to get a good catch since then 60% of the fish species have been wiped out would you rather catch facial rubbish by Nicola suka I can't rocky canyon suka democratic on to some Park and Darren Katara do you think the people who throw all this rubbish in here know what's actually going on further downriver a pasty cow question is it a box Empire Gosselin when I eat two bottom ones and I can hijack to remark assumed negative negative 10 million people live on the chittaram a study by the World Bank found almost all of these villages dump their rubbish by the river my sashimi walnut does he need some wine yeah that huge pile there comes from his village most of them are fishermen and they know what happens when the rubbish hits the river much of it is plastic and won't degrade for decades on stretches of this 200-mile long river the rubbish starves the water of oxygen you outdoor back Herman can still make 15 pounds in a good week selling the rubbish for recycling do draw a balk the belong hey while Herman relies on the chittaram River for his living millions depend on it for washing and drinking if this water is killing the fish I want to investigate what effect it's having on the people I had 30 miles upstream here the river passes through majalaya major industrial area a booming textiles industry has seen the population explode by 300% in the last 30 years this is one of the thousands of villages as dotted along the Tatar and river and I'm here to find a woman called Iwo who's going to show me around I've arrived on her birthday [Music] [Applause] this is Eva she's one of the most popular people in the village and she's the go-to lady if you've got a problem she gets your children enrolled in school she gets you registered for health care she can sort anything out but there's one village problem she's struggling to fix water from the chittaram river is channeled through this village bringing a tide of pollution with it that's seeping into the drinking wells [Music] [Music] everywhere I look people are using the river water nearby is an outlet from a textile factory yeah Saqqara Naren Ingo Edna Adama incognito oh yeah hello Kandhar evening government area yo Kooning at their mirror then it's time we didn't achieve these water channels are also open sewers this is the communal bathroom here in the village may wash clothes they wash dishes they brush their teeth while all the time trying to expertly maneuver around bits of human excrement that are floating in the water people here know this is dangerous but they have no option he was biggest concern is for the villagers youngest residents Sonia is 18 months old recently she hasn't been able to stop scratching her face how long has she had this ranch why do you think it's the water [Music] while many blame the rashes on the raw sewage others blame chemicals from the textile factories which have sprung up along the river most of II was family work in the textile factories including her son Dimas and when you're working in the factory do you wear gloves do you have protection yeah yeah one where we I said yeah what is needed yeah yeah I smell some cooking would you here's my water God how does that make you feel you have protection when you're inside the factory then you put the stuff in the river it's true Gary you don't need me more than half the adults in this region work in textile factories stitching weaving and dyeing clothes for some of the world's biggest fashion brands it's a twelve billion dollar industry that helps make Indonesia the largest economy in Southeast Asia [Music] the next morning he was arranged for her brother to take me on a tour of the cheetah room he wants to show me the various sources of pollution which he says are poisoning the river Denny is the most vocal environmental campaigner in this area why is there so much rubbish all along the sides of the river yeah Perdue dope and took Chateau de senador de and reboot the lamps I took our son desire the book and Samba Kaname among surrounding which they can read up on minimus about breaking the straining this guitar singing Sitaram undermine America monumentality Tyrone done work and live on yakuza Tarot which is come past what then it tells me is the outlet from one of the textile factories here Prasad Misaka Misaka Misaka is there any regulation yes yeah Shinhwa doctrine YK mrs. Surratt upon the Chilika man the initiative on Yahoo number together with similar German scale again become Gotama selma the factories are legally bound to remove dangerous chemicals from the wastewater Indonesia's association of textile manufacturers says it's 200 members on the chittaram treat their wastewater but accepts the hundreds more textile factories which don't belong to their organization for untreated waste into the river sample but kombucha and about when I live just come past another factory outlet and this stuff is dark blue it smells really strong and there's steam coming off it then he tells me that's because it hasn't been processed hasn't been treated at all just been pumped straight into the river leukemia Barbra Barbra Jean Kerr well the industry tankmen goona can in Paris II from Milan a limba kalapana Renta mom be our economy Mohammed amendment septa can built an ecosystem I feel like I should be really pleased with these boys to have somewhere to swim but everything that I've seen down the river the domestic waste chemical runoff the sewage I'm really quite disturbed to see them jumping in like that the scary thing is it's this same water that irrigates these paddy fields and everyone who lives around here eats rice it's grown in fields like this one the wastewater that I've seen flowing into the river looks pretty bad I want to discover how dangerous the pollution is to human health I've enlisted the help of dr. Soong Rd a scientist from nearby Padua and University who spent his career researching the chicken liver they dumped their rubbish there you can see the toilets just over there and there's this outlet from one of the factories he starts by sampling the channel that carries river water through healers village [Music] he'll analyze the samples later back in his lab next dr. Soong Rd tests the drinking well which locals believe provides the cleanest water in the village well from the reports so close so it's possible the contaminant transfer to the well dr. Soong Rd will test these samples for industrial heavy metals like mercury and lead which can cause serious health problems this is Adi he has a baby daughter they wash her using this water which is where we're heading to take our final sample [Music] it's gonna take dr. Tsunade and his team a few days to get the results of their tests but in the meantime there are quite a few people in this community who think that urgent action needs to be taken to stop the pollution going into the Chitauri River over the last 10 years iwere and denny have tried to stop factories polluting the river by staging peaceful protests with little success they're changing tactics sorry Yamanaka cynical Sanrio - you do - I do [Music] Paloma Pahlavi dynasty kill young huh golly you gotta burn when the activists have carried out protests in the past they claim they've been threatened [Music] Danny in the group have decided to block up one of the wastewater outlet pipes which is a very brave decision the textile industry is king in this area and they've all got families so there's a lot to lose back in the village baby Sonia still has her rash her family uses this pond for washing cleaning and they even boil it for drinking this morning he was taking Sonia and her dad to the doctors it's money day - yeah the authority began he do you know my name petticoat booster daddy I everybody do Niall warrior koosy me my name is it to me young garcia de casa de Bercy Anya Libya Natasha who still yoga young man really a colles but today airport or do you think this is caused by chemical pollution or human condition in a Yesenia Panola Rania active up very in a very the matter mister very man you see I do got besides destruction skin young say Michael it to you so how many of these cases do you see every day yaki das guitar thing or another when you compare skipped are not present and I cannot come under attack Nikita poppy me while antibiotics should do the trick for now the doctor warns Sonya's rash will come back unless they start using clean water [Music] in his lab dr. Sanada is finished analyzing the samples from a West Village so you've got results yes you can somewhere somewhere I read tutor tomorrow only look I'm Brad most alarming and the results from the village well it has mercury at nearly four times the recommended safe level for drinking water look I'm Brad - did I miss a tea break on then the atomicity reckoning and producing and so why is mercury dangerous Sarika byung-eun enum Aryan token Dominus et Deus Anat moonkin sanitary Seco Turkana canker comedy and comedy run Mendte / - moi lien at Lambeth it was not moot in Toronto on occasions for lasagna Singha DRC grad Islamic and dari consume see area tomorrow Lee Logan Barrett's premier Career Academy on if you found this level of toxins in treated water say in the tap water in Jakarta what would the government do yes applicator bomber in the Harris Segura minuto Peru's an admin undersea boots about its consequence in unitary bomber in the Harris minuto personally the dangers of heavy metals are well documented no one is monitoring what they're doing to the people who live on the Chitauri there are various contaminants that go into making the dattara river one of the most polluted in the world but regardless of where the pollution comes from ultimate responsibility lies here with Indonesia's Ministry of Environment Perry whew it's me che roads unreported area few Omo is the Deputy Minister for the environment I show him the results from dr. Soong are these tests what is your department doing to try and keep these heavy metals out of the river it was a monkey that I meet again could get an empanada ten ke Taji kupuna página 10 de temporada Blucher gallon back to tanda do it happy sad Tauron content apart again putting baingan were among me to the Sierra man you say and Rama yam Rupa khenpo karten Duryodhana golden ticket were two are equivalent and I'm Linda man controlling a little man who controls and antonietta to Milan guru come makuhita Ravana may item it's not difficult to find these results okay this photo every day we went down to the river every single day yeah one week and every day the river was this color hmm why is it taking your government so long why did you find it so hard to do something about this Abraham BioDigital matter masala traumatic Shakur put the Maronite guitar we cannot do it overriding the indonesian government claims it has shut down a factory for illegally dumping chemical waste into the chit's room but it wouldn't disclose any details of the incidents all named the company back in the village and came to find out if Sonya's antibiotics are working [Music] it's really great to see that Sonya's rash is cleared up and now that I know what's in this water kind of wondering how long it's gonna last [Music] you were always smiling it's almost like you like you're not too worried but after happy keeping in the Manitowoc and Palmer in does attempt at governor governor Jabara an attack on insha'allah Sitaram tendu are you bulimic blasts iron every surname liminal power idea up is at the top across their country something I do Kanako gorilla papica depending upon the damn idea Eber and her campaign group have lost faith in the government today they're taking matters into their own hands managed to identify the outlet pipe the big enough Locker very good Kodama lucky [Applause] the family position by blocking this pipe they hope to flood the factory causing as much disruption as they can there are dozens of factory outlets along this stretch I can't help thinking this is more symbolic gesture of defiance the Big Sky after say katika publicly delegate my welcome to Miriam dan iron at America's upon the burgundy market again prominent and by the next morning the blockage has been removed Denny never found out whether they managed to flood the factory what's happening to the chittaram river is a danger to the people who live on it but there are similar stories in many countries as governments struggling to cope with massive population growth and the need to provide jobs turn a blind eye to unfolding environmental disasters [Music] thanks for watching this classic unreported world episode click the logo to subscribe for more award-winning documentaries from the unreported world team we upload videos every Wednesday and Sunday keeping you up-to-date with content from all over the world [Music]

Channel: Unreported World

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Rating: 4.8270817 out of 5

Keywords: world's dirtiest river, the dirtiest river in the world, dirtiest river in the world, citarum river, citarum river indonesia, river, rivers, fishing, indonesia, water pollution, water, river pollution, environmental, environmental pollution, environment, effects of pollution, pollution in water, pollution of water, water contamination, unreported world dirtiest river, unreported world dirty river, unreported world, channel 4 unreported world, channel 4, seyi rhodes, dirtiest river

Id: AkSXB-lRAp0

Length: 23min 57sec (1437 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 15 2017