The Role of River Embankment Workers in River Conservation in Surakarta City

Abstract

Rivers in Surakarta City experience silting problems, pollution from both industrial and domestic waste, and flooding in rainy seasons. The government through the BBWS BS (the house of parliement of Bengawan Solo River) has carried out a series of river revitalization activities as an effort to handle the flooding in Surakarta City. These activities include normalizing rivers, widening rivers, relocating settlements from river borders, building dikes, building sluice gates, building pump houses and all facilities in the riverbank area. This government efforts will be useless if the community does not participate in protecting what the government has built. Public is still lack of awareness on the importance of maintaining the river sustainability. There are still many people who throw garbage into the river and use the river embankment not as it should be. To overcome this, BBWS BS has formed a river embankment worker, which is a special officer to treat, clean and maintain the physical shape of the Bengawan Solo river. This study aims to determine the role of the river embankment workers in conserving rivers in Surakarta City. The method used is TPB (Theory of Planned Behavior). Based on the results of the study it is known that the River Embankment Workers have a positive attitude in river preservation. River embankment workers also educate the public to participate in maintaining the preservation of the river. The difficulty faced by the River Embankment Workers is that people are still desperate to use the river embankment and throw garbage into the river.