Nusantara River Expedition, Monitor River Conditions in Indonesia

Prigi explains how to monitor water quality with bioindicators, Sunday (27/2)

The Nusantara River Expedition or Indonesian Rivers Expedition (IRE)  initiated by Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation ( Ecoton) and supported by The Body Shop is a journey of researchers, journalists, filmmakers collaborating with the community of river observers in Indonesian rivers. "This expedition will detect river health and document the condition of 68 rivers in Indonesia, starting from Wonosalam in the upstream area of ​​Brantas, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua, Nusa Tenggara and Bali. It is estimated that it will take 10 to 12 months," said Amirudin Mutaqien, IRE Coordinator.

Amirudin, who is also the videomaker of Ecoton, explained that along the way, he would stop at 68 cities, and collaborate with river communities. This joint team then carried out river health detection activities, through water insect census activities, plastic and sachet waste censuses, and physical and chemical quality tests by measuring the parameters of phosphate, nitrate, COD or Chemical Oxygen Demand, TOC or Total Organic Carbon and TDS or Total Dissolved Solid. "We will also measure the microplastic content as an indicator of plastic waste pollution, we will send water samples to the Ecoton laboratory," said Amir, Sunday (27/2/2022).

Water Police Collaboration

Amir holds a handycam documenting the activities of the water police

IRE works with the water community, including the Water Police of SMPN 1 Wonosalam. Together with them, IRE will hold a number of actions oriented towards river health from various types of pollution. "This collaboration with the Water Police is an example of activities that will be carried out in 68 rivers in Indonesia, we invite the community to carry out physical monitoring and river conditions which will then be encouraged to form communities and advocacy to encourage the government to pay attention to rivers," said Amir. The Water Police Community of SMPN 1 Wonosalam consists of 30 river observers, routinely detecting the health of the Gogor River, a tributary of the Brantas River in Wonosalam. "Every week members of the water police conduct health observations by using water insects or biotilik," said Arum Wismaningsih, Advisor for the Water Police of SMPN 1 Wonosalam. Furthermore, the alumnus of Biology at the University of Jember explained that during today's monitoring (27/2/2022), 17 types of aquatic insects were found, dominated by insect larvae that are sensitive to pollution and concluded that the Gogor river in Wonosalam is still healthy or has not been polluted.

Prigi and Amir with a background in IRE activities on the Wonosalam River

"Other parameters measured are TOC of 5 ppm, COD of 6 ppm and TDS of 43 ppm which shows that the river in Wonosalam is still clean and not polluted," said Arum. Arum added that the nitrite parameter was not detected or 0 which means that there was no contamination of chemical diapers and domestic liquid waste. "The nitrite is zero, meaning that the Gogor river upstream of Brantas is clean from agricultural waste and domestic waste," said Arum. Another activity is a brand audit or making a list of plastic waste from brands or brands.

 "We found 200 piece sachets waste that were thrown into the river and the five most brands were PT WINGS, MARIMAS, UNILEVER, AJINOMOTO and UNICHARM," said Arum.