The Gaping Holes in the Upstream Martapura River Area

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

Coal remains stuck to the ground in Pengaron Village, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan, Friday (22/1/2021). Environmental damage due to mining is considered as one of the triggers for natural disasters.

The trap of South Kalimantan\'s natural resource exploitation has snapped. In the upstream area of the Martapura River, mining pits have opened up and mining activities continue, while downstream peatlands have been turned in oil palm plantations. The “City of a Thousand Rivers” was locked in floods.

After five days of floods, Syahroni, 58, of Pengaron village, Banjar regency, returned home. On Friday (22/1/2021) afternoon, he was sitting on a worn-out sofa with dry mud, sipping coffee.

The aroma of fried fish cooked by his wife Ida wafted over from the kitchen. "After five days of eating only instant noodles, I had a stomach ache," he recalled the time that his residence was isolated by water.

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He did not regret not getting help from the government. He was also not upset when a truck carrying aid returned home before discharging its goods because the water was too high. "The truck was already in front of the bridge, but it turned back, and didn\'t come here," he said. The bridge is not far from his location.

For Syahroni and hundreds of families in Pengaron, about 3 hours by motorbike from Banjarbaru city, floods are nothing new. When the people of Banjarmasin had been flooded for a week, their village had already been under water for 20 days.

Since 1979, people had been working in the woods. After the woods had disappeared, the mines appeared,

"How could we not to be flooded? In the hills and mountains upstream, the trees have already been felled. Since 1979, people had been working in the woods. After the woods had disappeared, the mines appeared,” he said.

Jahrani, 43, another Pengaron resident, also had to evacuate. His house and those belonging to 11 other families were not only hit by the floods but also by landslides. "We fled to the hills. There was no help. I was forced to wear my wife\'s clothes, because my clothes had been swept away by the water,” he said.

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

One of the ex-coal mining holes in Pengaron, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan, which has not been reclaimed. Photo taken Friday (22/1/2021). .

Pengaron village is famous for its mines. Abandoned mining pits in the village 91.5 kilometers from the city of Banjarmasin have become a tourist attraction. The name is Pengaron Blue Lake, less than 1 km from the village, across the Pengaron River, which flows into the Martapura River.

From the river, the entrance to the ex-mining pits is about 200 meters. If visitors want to touch the lake water or take a selfie, they have to travel 4 km across rocky roads that are also muddy during the rainy season.

The mining pits are located behind shady hills, where bamboo and rubber trees thrive, but the green of the trees cannot cover up the environmental damage.

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Upon reaching the location, the visitor will spot at least four very large oval mining pits. All around them are sand and black rocks: coal. Several sacks full of coal have not been transported away.

Steep cliffs form the edges of the pits. When Kompas visited the location on Friday afternoon, a large boulder on the edge of one of those cliffs fell into the lake and made a sound like an eruption. Then, the ground shook, the lake water rippled. The green water of the lake turned dirty brown, the same color as the nearby river. The large rock sank into the lake. It was a horrible event for a tourist spot.

Six km from these abandoned pits, and only 2 km from the riverbank, there are active coal mines. That afternoon, however, they were deserted.

Hundreds of holes

Open mines, especially in forest areas, requires clearing land first, so the landscape changes.

The coordinator of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), Merah Johansyah, said mining in South Kalimantan was done with an open pit system, marking the landscape with holes of various sizes. In 2018, there were 3,092 ex-mining pits in Indonesia, including 814 in South Kalimantan.

"Open mines, especially in forest areas, requires clearing land first, so the landscape changes. The extent of the damage done to the environment is large, including to water management and pollution," said Merah.

KOMPAS/JUMARTO YULIANUS

Residents using boats gather and chat on the front porch of the house of one of the residents in Sungai Lulut Village, East Banjarmasin District, Banjarmasin City, South Kalimantan, Sunday (24/1/2021). For almost two weeks, the settlement on the banks of the Lulut River, a tributary of the Martapura River, was hit by flooding and the water had not receded.

When the landscape changes or is damaged, it loses its carrying capacity. Rainwater goes straight to the rivers, because the trees can no longer hold the water. That is the other side of the horror of the flood that inundated 11 of 13 regencies/cities in South Kalimantan.

Water overflowing from the river not only submerged Pengaron but flowed rapidly downstream to Banjarmasin city, the City of a Thousand Rivers. By Sunday (24/1), the floods had inundated 112,166 houses, damaged public facilities and cut bridges. Twenty-four people have died and three were missing as of Sunday.

In the South Kalimantan region alone, according to Jatam data, there are 789 coal mining permits, 553 of which were issued despite not meeting the clean and clear (CnC) requirements, while the remaining 236 licenses have CnC status. The mining areas total approximately 1.2 million ha, accounting for a large chunk of South Kalimantan’s 3.7 million ha.

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The executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) of South Kalimantan, Kisworo Dwi Cahyono, asked the relevant parties to reflect. "Don\'t be too quick to blame the rain. Look at the condition of the upstream and downstream environment in South Kalimantan." he urged.

The acting regional secretary of South Kalimantan, Roy Rizali Anwar, likened the big flood to a major flood that happened in 1928 and said he did see mining or plantations as the main factor in the current flood. However, he promised that the local government would study it.

In the midst of public debate over the cause of the South Kalimantan floods that has been going on for almost two weeks, thousands of residents in the downstream area of Banjarmasin city, and residents from the banks of the Lulut River, which is a tributary of the Martapura River, are still in shelters. The water hasn\'t receded yet.

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.