Delta Life 7

15 DELTARES, MARCH 2017 T he inhabitants of Bandung depend on the Citarum River for drinking water, irrigation, washing and fishing. Pollutants in the water make the people ill: they cause rashes and diarrhoea. The city is the source of much of the pollution. Bandung in Java is known for its large textile industry. All these com- panies pollute the river by discharging dyes and heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic. Not only that: the sewage system is inadequate and so the river acts as a sewer and as a dump for household waste. There is no shortage of solutions. For example, new dying technologies could be introduced that use little or no water. Homes could be connected to the sewage system. The main challenge is to put the solutions into practice. The first step is to get the problem onto the agenda. The Alliance for Water, Health and Development is working on this by quantifying the impact of poor water quality on health. Gertjan Geerling, a researcher at Deltares: 'If you can show the impact in terms of numbers such as savings on health care or a reduction in the number of deaths, you can get politicians on board.' Fromwashing clothes to drinking water It is not all that easy to describe poor water quality in terms of the impact on health. 'We know that the water is dirty and we can also measure levels of contamination. Even so, we still don't know just how water quality affects human health.' That is why Deltares has teamed up with the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and the Radboud University of Nijmegen to assess the situation in one of the areas of Bandung where people live near the water. A passive sampler is measuring the average concentrations of all kinds of substances in the water over a longer period of time. In addition, the residents are completing surveys so that we know which source of water they use for any particular purpose – from washing clothes to flushing the lavatory and drinking water. By combining all these data, we can establish a picture of how water quality impacts human health. It is still too early to state this as a health statistic. Nevertheless, the initial measurements with the passive sampler have generated interesting results. For example, DEET, a substance used for mosquitoes, the pesticide Endosulfan and the anti- inflammatory diclofenac have been found in the water. For more information: gertjan.geerlings@deltares.nl www.water-health-development.org What should we do with the world's dirtiest river? This is a pressing question for the inhabitants of Bandung, who number in the millions. Deltares is researching the impact of water quality on health in order to come up with solutions. BY KARIN STONE FIGURES HELP CLEAN UP THE WORLD'S DIRTIEST RIVER DOSSIER CASE IMAGE GETTYIMAGES