{"id":4794,"date":"2013-06-26T21:04:44","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T21:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seangallagher.wpengine.com\/blog\/?p=4794"},"modified":"2013-06-26T21:04:44","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T21:04:44","slug":"photographing-jakartas-severe-water-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/photographing-jakartas-severe-water-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing Jakarta\u2019s Severe Water Pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A heavily polluted pond in a slum community in northern Jakarta. April 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In April of this year, I travelled to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta for the first time. I was excited to visit this new city and start to photograph in one of the world’s most underreported emerging economies. I had read stories about the city’s challenges with water and flooding, which is why I wanted to photograph there and continue my work on environmental issues in developing nations. I wasn’t prepared for the shocking scenes that I was to witness in my time in the city. One of my first impressions of this Southeast Asian megalopolis was not the not the eclectic culture and diversity of the fascinating Indonesian people, or the mix of traditional and modern architecture, it was the smell.<\/p>\n

That smell emanated from the rivers and canals that weave their way through this city of over 10 million people. \u00a0400,000 liters of waste are dumped into the capital\u2019s rivers and canals every day. Supposedly equating to the weight of 140 elephants, according to a 2009 report in the Jakarta Globe.<\/p>\n

Built on the confluence of 13 rivers, Jakarta\u2019s history has been one involving vigorous trade with countries around the world. During the Dutch colonial era in the early 17th<\/sup> Century onwards, a network of canals was built that helped relieve the city from flooding which, at that time, only occasionally affected the city.<\/p>\n

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