On March 18, 2021, a staff of PT. BCA who was doing field inspection at Block 7-88 found that the water flowing from Block 7-88 to Block 7-89 appears black.
- On March 18, 2021, a staff of PT. BCA reported his finding to the management when doing block inspection that the water flowing from Blok 7-88 to Block 7-89 changes color to black. The water is thought to have come from water seepage from the pile of empty fruit bunches (EFB) which flow into the Water Body and entered the Mad River in Block 7-89.
- On March 18, 2021, after the report was received, a team from the department of environment immediately checked the Block 7-88 area during the day.
- On March 19, 2021, the repairs were carried out using heavy equipment by closing all the remaining flow and seepage from the pile of empty fruit bunches and ensuring no other water flows from the empty fruit bunches pile flowing into the block 7-88 area.
- On April 6, 2021, water samples from Block 7-88 were collected by PT. Mutu Agung Lestari.
| 1. | Water samples were taken at 4 sites which are located along the small river from empty fruit bunch (EFB) pile and the farthest sampling site is 3 km away from the first site. | |
| 2. | Based on the Laboratory Test Results by PT. Mutu Agung Lestari with reference number: 3027/SL/IV/21 to 3030/SL/IV/21 dated April 26, 2021, the pH concentration of water at four sampling locations are within the standard for water quality which is in the range of 6 (normal value is 6 to 9). However, at the first location (closest to the EFB pile), the scales in 2 out of the 36 parameters exceed the water quality standard. For the rest three locations, the parameter values are within the water quality standards as set in the Government Regulation Number 82 of 2001 concerning Water Quality Management and Water Pollution Control. There will be no impact caused by the findings on the 2 parameters at the first location because the values at the next locations (location 2, location 3 and location 4) are within the standard. In addition, the nearest village (Selil Village) from the EFB pile is located 14 km away, therefore, it has no impact on the community. | |
| 3. | The next steps that will be taken by the management are: | |
| a. | Empty fruit bunches are not stockpiled/collected but will be directly applied to the field | |
| b. | Assign a dedicated team for arranging empty fruit bunches in the block/field | |
| c. | As a follow-up monitoring activity of this case, a surface water quality testing will be taken every 6 months to test surface water samples. The sampling will be conducted by an independent laboratory in order to meet water quality standards. | |