PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - The Bandung City Government (Pemkot) is again holding the Mapag Hujan (Walungan and Susukan Cleaning Marathon) activity, Friday (2/9/2024)

The activity was attended by the Acting Mayor of Bandung Bambang Tirtoyuliono represented by the Assistant for Economic and Development Systems Eric M. Attauriq.

This program is intended to intensify the river and drainage cleaning movement while inviting all elements of society to care about the environment ahead of the rainy season.

"Bandung City is still hit by floods every rainy season. The problem is complex, but the most important thing is that we have made improvements after improvements," he said.

He said that the volume of flooding in Bandung City has now decreased significantly. From its origin in 2015 reaching more than 99 thousand cubic meters, in the rainy season last year (2023) the volume of flooding had shrunk by more than 62 thousand cubic meters, or only 36 thousand cubic meters remained.

"The decline is seen in the number of flood areas. In 2020 there were 21 flood areas, in 2023 only seven flood areas were recorded," he said.

The Bandung City Government from 2015 to 2024 has built 13 retention ponds, divided into 12 sub-basins of the Citarum River and 46 tributaries. However, Eric continued, there is still a lot of homework to be done.

"With the morphology and development trends, Bandung City ideally has 30 retention ponds as flood control. The flowing rivers still need to be dredged for sedimentation so that they remain deep and can accommodate high rainfall, or not overloaded with water," he said.

For this reason, Mapag Hujan activities are carried out every rainy season. This is a good tradition that we continue to maintain. Involving all elements of society from the city level to the sub-district, village, and RT and RW.

"Mapag Hujan is a joint movement, carried out massively, and for the common good. Therefore, community participation is very important. Residents can contribute to this activity by participating in dredging sedimentation and cleaning up garbage in gutters, culverts, and small rivers," he said.

Head of the Bandung City Water Resources and Highways Agency, Didi Ruswandi, said that Mapag Hujan is part of the optimization and involves pentahelix.

"Development must be pentahelix. Academics, media, government, entrepreneurs, communities, and society must be involved," he said.

Project Lead River Cleanup Indonesia Egar Anugrah said that the presence of River Cleanup is a movement to build a more comfortable city.

"This is a small movement, because the intention must not stop, so that there is continuity. That we are not only cleaning, but changing behavior," he said.

The Mapag Hujan activity was also carried out simultaneously by all UPT DSDABM together with the community and society, including UPT Bojonegara, UPT Cibeunying, UPT Tegalega, UPT Karees, UPT Ujungberung, UPT Gedeage and UPT Watershed Areas (DAS).