The river you can’t see for RUBBISH: Former Indonesian paradise is now clogged with household waste and toxic chemicals dumped by textile factories

• The Citarum in Java is now said to be the dirtiest river in the world
• More than 35million people still rely on it for drinking and washing
• Greenpeace report last year claimed one of the largest textile manufacturers on the Citarum – PT Gistex Group – has had a ‘business relationship’ with Gap, H&M and Adidas
• One fisherman's experience on river is revealed on C4 documentary Unreported World tonight
  

By ALASDAIR GLENNIE and LAURA COX

PUBLISHED: 22:11 GMT, 10 April 2014 | UPDATED: 22:23 GMT, 10 April 2014

If it were not for his boat, you would think this fisherman was sitting on a landfill site. 

In fact, he is trawling the river for waste plastic to help him eke out a living.

Once a tropical paradise, the Citarum in Java, Indonesia, is now said to be the dirtiest river in the world. 

Clogged with household waste, toxic chemicals dumped by textile factories and dead animals, it has lost 60 per cent of its fish stocks. 

But more than 35million people still rely on it for drinking and washing.

The fisherman in the picture, called Herman, told Channel 4’s Unreported World, which airs tonight: ‘I don’t catch fish any more … they’re floating on the surface … I’m sure everyone knows the result of dumping rubbish like this. There are rules, but nobody is enforcing them.’

Locals say textile factories illegally dump chemicals into the river at night and some nearby village wells contain four times the recommended safe levels of mercury.

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2601944/Indonesian-river-cl...