Fri, July 30, 2010
JAKARTA, July 30 (Xinhua) -- A laboratory test on seawater from six tourist beaches in Indonesia's Bali shows that they are polluted, the Jakarta Globe quoted an expert as saying on Friday.
Researcher Ketut Sundra from the Department of Biology at Udayana University in the provincial capital city of Denpasar said that the lab test resulted the presence of pollutants that exceed the environmental quality standards at all six beaches.
Sundra named the six beaches as Kuta, Legian, Nusa Dua, Jimbaran, Tanjung Benoa and Canggu, popular tourist destinations.
Speaking at a seminar at his university, Sundra said that the samples of seawater were taken during both dry and rainy seasons in 2008 and 2009, and 19 parameters were tested.
"Kuta, Legian, Jimbaran and Nusa Dua can be categorized as lightly polluted while Tanjung Benoa and Canggu are moderately polluted," he said.
He said that eight pollutants had been found on the beaches, meaning that seawater failed to meet the standard necessary to be classified as clean.
Sundara blamed the pollution on the ineffective waste management by hotels, restaurants and other hospitality, as well as tourist-related business in the area.
