Expedition of Prigi Arisandi & Amiruddin Muttaqin Detects Microplastics in Indonesian Rivers

river expedition team exploring the steep hills of South Aceh, July 2022

Riding a 2018 Honda CRF 150 cc Trail Motorcycle, Prigi Arisandi and Amiruddin Mutaqqin, who rode a 2017 Supra X 125 motorbike, departed from South Lampung to Bengkulu Province, a few days ago. Prigi, Director of Ecological Observation and Wetland Conservation (Ecoton), and Amiruddin, Ashoka Young Changemakers, are on the Nusantara River Expedition mission (Nusantara is the designation or name for the entire Indonesian archipelago. derived from words in Kawi - a form of Old Javanese heavily influenced by Sanskrit). The two environmental activists aim to explore 68 rivers in Indonesia to obtain various data on pollution and water quality standards. Amir is in charge of recording it with the camera. "The Nusantara River Expedition has four missions, namely knowing the health of rivers, documenting and making films, then publishing or broadcasting, and building communities in each river," said Prigi to Dian Yuliastuti from Tempo via a messaging application, Thursday, April 28, 2022.

Prigi Arisandi and Amiruddin Muttaqin

Previously, Prigi and Amir, collaborate with Watchdoc was involved in the expedition of three major rivers on the island of Java, namely the Brantas River, Bengawan Solo and Citarum. Expedition activities of the 3 main rivers on Java Island can be enjoyed in 30 episodes in the title Ekspedisi 3 sungai (Expedition of 3 Rivers) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yxaou55Uo&ab_channel=WatchdocImage

Together with Gede Robi and Tiza Mafira, he became the "film star" of Plastic Island, https://www.netflix.com/id-en/title/81597205 directed by Dandhy Dwi Laksono and Rahung Nasution. The documentary reveals the problem of plastic waste by telling the stories of these characters who are struggling with the issue.

Prigi has been taking care of the river for a long time. The recipient of the 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize from the United States was also inspired to mobilize local communities to protect the river. This is because he found many rivers were damaged and community involvement was needed to restore the damage and take care of it. "The government has assets, but they don't take care of them," said Prigi.

He talked about his journey dealing with the river and the waste in it since 1996, his experience involving children, and his very challenging expedition. Here is an excerpt.

How far have you traveled on the Nusantara River Expedition?

Already thousands of kilometers, yes. The Sungai Nusantara Expedition was actually a continuation of the previous expedition. It's a separate expedition. The Three Rivers Expedition (Sungai Brantas, Bengawan Solo, and Citarum) aims to document and make films. While the Nusantara River Expedition has four missions, namely knowing the health of rivers, documenting and making films, then publishing or broadcasting, and building communities in each river.

What problems do you see?

The rivers in Java (Sungai Brantas, Bengawan Solo, and Citarum) are mismanaged, they are used but not managed. Even though these rivers support 50 percent of food stocks in Java. With this expedition, we don't want the rivers outside Java to suffer the same fate. Only taken advantage of, but not preserved.

What's the solution?

The key is to include water quality conditions (as an important issue). So far, the quantity and continuity of rivers in Java have only been monitored, but not the quality. Because, its utilization for dams, power plants, and irrigation.

How many rivers have you reached in the Archipelago River Expedition?

Until now (December,2022), we have targeted 45 of the 68 rivers. Currently (December 9,2022) we are still in Timor Island heading to Bali Island . We have passed the Brantas River, Kali Code, Serayu, Ciwidey, Citanduy, Ciujung, Citarum, Way Sulan, and Way Seputih, Musi, Batang hari, Kapuas, Barito, Mahakam, Tondano, Poso, Halmahera, Klamono river in Papua, Noelmina, Oesapa in Kupang. It's all broken (Contaminated with microplastic)

What are the damage parameters?

Actually it's easy when you look at PP 22/2021 (Government Regulation Number 22 of 2021) concerning river water quality standards, regulations derived from the omnibus law. Must be free of any chemical substances, such as chlorine, phosphate, manganese, heavy metals and copper. According to the PP 22/2021  also, the river must be zero waste. So, our mission is to find a river that is littered.

Why choose the 68 rivers?

Because it's the center which incidentally is a national river. We want to do benchmarking with the Citarum River. The Citarum management budget is trillions of rupiah. So, we want the management of the Archipelago's rivers to be like that. The river is a raw material for drinking water and irrigation. So that the inequality is not too wide. The main problem now is in the inter-agency apparatus. We want all rivers like the Citarum to have a Presidential Decree (Presidential Regulation Number 15 of 2018 concerning the Acceleration of Pollution Control and Damage to the Citarum River Basin).

From your observation, what are the pollutants that dominate the river? Industrial or domestic waste?

That's an old discourse actually, it's not interesting. The PP clearly states that rivers in Indonesia must be zero waste. The government could be legally sued for allowing waste to enter the river. Indonesia is the second champion in terms of garbage in the sea. The government has a road map of 70 percent reducing plastic waste. Is it true that later can be achieved? Can reduce? Based on World Bank data, every year waste in Indonesia reaches 8 million tons. However, the government is only able to handle 3 million tonnes. Well, the rest? Yes, thrown into the river, burned, and just thrown away. We urge the government to seriously deal with this problem.

You can Follow our expedition in Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhf07q6nu0&ab_channel=ECOTONDOCUMENTARY