Water pollution and its impact on Bali, Indonesia

Bali an Indonesian island surrounded by circulation and mass of water bodies in Bali sea that are continuation from Flores sea to the java sea. As discussed above Bali being one of the most attractive destination in Indonesia attracts a great number of tourists and have an excessive impact on its economy. As well as population of Bali has increased over last few years because of tremendous growth in job opportunities because tourism industry. But not for long as there is a visible growth in factors related to water pollution. Main cause of water pollution in Bali is plastic. Plastic is a curse which is attached to not only human beings but has started showing its effect on the aquatic life and is basically corrupting the food cycle.

There are discoveries that are showing that it’s not only the plastic from Bali but from rest of the Indonesia which travels from as far as the java se, there are reports that suggests pollution can be travelling from as far as pacific ocean to the Bali sea which is in Indian ocean (BBC NEWS, 2018). Also there are illegal gold mining ventures for which mercury is used and is left as pollutant in water to dispose. How does plastic reach and affect the environment?Plastic one of the hardest materials. Majority of the plastic pollutants are known as microplastics which began to grow algae by drifting and start to smell like food for the fishes present in the water body.

Further plastics can be categorised into two polyethylene and polystyrene. They don’t simply breakdown but the chemical compound slowly leaches away, polyethylene leaves bisphenol A which have a biological impact on marine species and polystyrene breaks down into compounds known as carcinogens which have a wide range of negative impact on the species. Now to get rid of the plastic it is dumped into the ground which are stored with all the other garbage but when they come into contact with water some of the plastic dissolves and convert into toxic compounds such as nitrates and nitrides which are absorbed by the soil and from soil to ground water which then travels nearby water bodies as per (Brumleve, 2017).

All this process have a devastating impact on ecosystem as the plastic is affecting marine species which are then consumed by humans or other wild life resulting in harming all. According to (Oliphant, 2017) Jimbaran, Kuta and Seminyak beaches are top tourist destinations in Bali, carting off up to 100 tons of junk each day at the peak of the clean-up process which shows how it’s affecting the local, tourists, and the business but most importantly is creating a large impact on the global environment. If the situation is not controlled it can get worse as it was pointed by Kelly Slater a world surfing champion. Not only the beaches and sea are getting affected but they are running out of fresh water reserves and if not taken care there would be nothing to save from such a beautiful destination.

Who is responsible?

There is never a single person to blame for any cause and here every body shares equal percentage of blame from locals to tourists to businesses. According to (Harvey, 2018) the main reason is dependency on plastics as everybody living today is highly influenced by plastic and cannot stay without touching it for even 10 minutes. The locals are in habit of using single use plastic and even there was a scheme to ban the plastic bags which was fizzed out almost as soon as it was announced.

There are poor waste management practises because of which government is also to be blamed and also according to (Bali Tourism, n. d. ) Business like hotels and restaurants are the main culprits disrupting the waste management cycle as the outsource help for waste disposal which does not guarantee efficient results.