World Environment Day: 'Planet's dirtiest river' is causing rashes in children, locals say

World Environment Day: 'Planet's dirtiest river' is causing rashes in children, locals say

On World Environment Day, moving footage reveals the devastating impact toxic waste is having on local citizens living by Indonesia's the Citarum River, widely dubbed the world's most polluted.

These scenes shot in May this year show a personal account of how local residents are struggling to cope with living beside the river, the longest in West Java, and how it is causing health problems among children, locals say.

In the video, Dadan Ramdan Hardja, director of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI), explains how the textile industry, drilling, and development of land have caused the water to become polluted.

As most factories don’t have their own wastewater treatment plant, all this waste flows downstream and ends in the Citarum River, turning the water different shades of black, brown and red.

In February, one textile company was found guilty of polluting a section of the river, according to local media.

Muhammad Agus has been a resident of the village of Lagadar in the Sukamanah district since 1984.

As a local, he has witnessed the Citarum River become progressively worse since the early 1990s.

The pollution also comes from the area's lack of proper waste disposal, as locals are forced to throw their rubbish into the river.

Irwansyah, a local salesman, tells the devastating story of his young daughter's asthma and skin condition, caused he says by playing near the river and having to use contaminated water from the wells.

Video shows the rashes on her skin.

"I have taken my daughter to clinics, and the doctors said her itchy skin was caused by the contaminated water." The local Jakarta Post newspaper in February reported that the Indonesian government has set up a restoration program for the river.

However, the program has been hindered by lack of funding and law enforcement, it said.

Today (June 5) is World Environment Day.