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LIVING BY THE CITARUM RIVER BANKS

Pak Suratmo lives on the banks of the Citarum River. He started ishing in the
Citarum river when he was a teenager and chose to be a isherman once he
grew up. After being a sand miner, being a isherman was the second main job
for people living in this area. It was a good decision as everything was ine till
seventeen years ago and started getting worst from ive years ago.
Starting from that time, Pak Suratmo did not catch much ish as he used to.
Less and less ish, he caught. Even, he often came home empty-handed. As a
breadwinner, he had to think a lot about his life. He said that he could no

longer be called isherm Instead he should be called scavenger because

he collected and sold plastic waste to make a living. He collected the garbage
from the same river he went ishing - the Citarum river.
The Citarum river was often labeled as the world’s most polluted river. Every
day, no less than 20,000 tons of waste and 340,000 tons of wastewater are thrown
into this river. The wastewater came from around 2,000 textile factories. The
waste killed the ish and destroyed the environment. The Citarum river is the
third-biggest river in Java but since then, the ish were largely gone. In total,
almost 60% of its ish species was no longer found in the river since 2008.
As the river contained chemicals that killed the animals living in and drank the
water, there were dead animals loating along the waste and trash. Not only
the river’s bad smell and color, but also the polluted water made people suffer
from skin and respiratory diseases and farmers lost their crops. This condition
gave hard conditions to its surrounding, including Pak Suratmo and 25 million
people living near the river, and people depending on the electricity produced
from the river.
(Adapted from https://thediplomat.com/2018/04/indonesias-citarum-the-worlds-most-
polluted-river/)

State whether the following statements are true or false.
1. At irst, Pak Suratmo worked as a isherman and a sand miner.
2. After the river got polluted, Pak Suratmo caught ish and collected T F
garbage to make a living. T F
3. The Citarum river was vital for people living on the river banks only.
T F
4. All waste and garbage thrown into the river were from factories.
T F
5. The Citarum river was the third-biggest river in Indonesia.
T F

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