♪ this is jakarta, the capitol of endonin dendonessau.

at lunch time many office workers emerge to eat at local street stalls. dishes made with tofu are very popular. in indonesia it's usually eaten with chilly peppers and fried. >> translator: it's tasty and it's good for you. >> many people take their lunch back to the office. >> translator: tofu is a staple o o of endonessau cuisine. >> however, it's causing serious environmental problems across

indonesia. >> president's of a village are protesting against tofu ma manufacturers. there are 22 tofu makers. the waist water they produce pollutes rivers. a group of local residents are demanding that tofu makers stop dumping waist water within three days. >> translator: the river water's polluted so there's no way we can use it. >> across indonesia, it's usually produced by small family run businesses. there are more than 80,000 of them nation wide. they're usually concentrated in areas with a plentiful supply of pure water, resulting in what are called tofu villages. however, the waist water these businesses produce contains large amounts of organic matter,

most of which ends up in rivers. as a result bodies of water in and around tofu villages suffer from serious pollution. the indonesiaen government is addressing this issue with a system that would put waist water to use. pipes are being installed to collect tofu waist water and store it in tanks. bacteria are then used to break down the pollutants, converting the waist fluid into clean water. the methane gas is sold to local residents to generate the income required to maintain the system. >> translator: our system is highly adaptable. it can be used in any kind of

inenvironment. and we want to keep improving the technology. can indonesia keep producing large amounts of tofu while still protecting the environment? we follow ongoing efforts to achieve these conflicting goals. cally -- kalisari, 15 house holds. at the entrance to the village is a monument to local tofu makers. around 250 households work in the industry and 70% of local workers have some connection with it.

kalisari is the first village to benefit from a new processing system. four facilities have been set up to collect and process waist water from 160 tofu makers around 2/3 of the total. 50,000 liters can be collected in a single day. slamet is 51. he was once a farmer. but 16 years ago he started running the tofu business that had been operated by his wife's family. his work day begins at 3:00 a.m. he starts with soy beans that have been standing in water for six hours.

he griends them up, all the while adding more water. this transforms the beans to a bisks liquid. the mixture is then transferred into a stone pot and simmered slowly. he continues the process for around 30 minutes while adjusting the temperature. it draws out the moisture and other not to reiants they contain. it's then filtered through a

cloth. this extracts the soy milk used to make the tofu. the husks are used as animal feed. he then adds vinegar to the soy milk. it only takes about three minutes for the soy milk to begin to thicken. the excess liquid is carefully removed.

its then tipped down the drain. in the past this nutrient rich liquid flowed straight into the river. however, these days the drain is connected to a treatment facility and all the waist water can be processed. after the exeswater removed, the lumpy mixture is placed in frames. the frames are covered with lids. and stones are placed on top to

drain the tofu. 15 minutes later the tofu is ready. every day he repeats this process three times. using a total of 30 kilograms of soy beans. his wife cuts the tofu into blocks. each block is then fried in oil. they work together for four hours finishing at 7:00.

at 8:00, they load the tofu into a shared taxi. they want to get it to market while it is still fresh. "i'll be waiting at home." selling the tofu is sartem's job. it takes about 15 minutes to reach her destination.

it's the largest town in the area. people from the surrounding villages come to sell their products at the market here. every day sartem rents a space in front of the same shop. before she's even set up her first customers arrive. they're kind enough to help. the tofu blauocks come in two sizes. the largest are 1,000.

most of her customers run food trucks or stalls. some buy 100 blocks at a time. >> translator: it's fresh and delicious. i'm a regular customer. >> in three hours all of her tofu is sold. she's made 100,000 rupiates. roughly $800 u.s. four spots to manage waist water. he visits one of the treatment plants every day. the waist water is stored here.

it comes from 17 businesses. part of his daily routine is checking to see that the pump is working properly and that no sediment is blocking the system. a filter removes sediment and debris before water is transferred to the storage tank. bacteria in the tank remove the pollutants by breaking down the organic material. the waist water is filtered using a device installed beside the tank and finally discharged into the river.

a second tank collects the gas. a scale on the outside makes it easy to see how much gas is stored within. the gas is piped to approximately 30 households, where it is used for cooking. >> translator: i'm delighted that we have a treatment plant here in our village. it's as if i got money from a friend. also we'll look after the plant and we'll take very good care of it and make sure that it doesn't get dirty and break down.

>> the first waist water processing plant went online december 2009. it owes its existence to the vision of one resident. wibowo was village chief starting in 2007. his prominent role in the village dates back to an unforgettable experience. the year before he became chief there was a major earthquake in central java. more than 5,sae00700 people die. m immediately after the earthquake, wibowo asks neighboring villagers to provide help. >> translator: i spent hours traveling to villages, when i

came back what i saw in front of my house brought me to tears. there was a huge mountain of donations. people had provided far more than i ever could have imagined. after my friends and i delivered the supplies to the disaster area people around here started to trust me and they eventually chose me as the village head. the following year wibowo was eect alled village chief with the overwhelming support of local residents. around that time pollution resulting from the tofu making process was becoming a bigger problem every year. >> translator: back when tofu was made by hand, a business

could only produce about 16 kilos a day. but after they started using machines to grind the soy beans, they were able to produce 100 or even 200 kilos a day. we were happy to see an increase in production but this also increased the amount of waist water which led to greater pollution. >> he discussed with his neighbors in. in early 2009 he brought it to the attention of an acquaintance who worked for the ministry of environment and forestry. they were developing a system to address environmental issues caused by indonesia's tofu

villages. they were looking for a place to test the system. >> translator: we surveyed a number of villages to see how we can protect the small-scale tofu industry using our technology. we chose kalisari because of the high concentration of tofu makers. >> construction was soon underway. when it was completed in november 2009, it became the first of its kind in indonesia. three more facilities were built and kalisari gradually saw an

improve mment in water quality. once a month local residents gather at this treatment plant. they come to give it a good cleaning. on this day 15 people join the team. seven years after it opened the plant has become very important to members of the community. he's been responsible for managing it the whole time. a few days earlier a problem had arisen. >> translator: the pump isn't working properly.

we can't move waist water into the tank. i don't know the actual cause but maybe the pump was sucking up sediment along with the water. >> when the facility was first built the government provided three pumps. over the years two of them had completely warn out and the final pump began to malfunction, sometimes stopping altogether. the reservoir was nearly full. it would soon start to over flow. >> translator: we have to fix it quickly otherwise the river will get polluted again. >> he decided to take the pump in for repairs.

his cousin drove him on his moped to the nearby market town. >> translator: hello. >> he took the pump to a specialist who had helped him with problems before. >> please fix it so that it sucks up the water properly. it might be tough depending on what's wrong with it. >> please do your best. do whatever you can. >> the mechanic checked the motor. it's spinning both clock wise and counter clock wise.

well, it originally spun clock wise, didn't it? the motor was behaving very strangely. >> is that common? >> not really. if it can spin either way, it means there's a problem with something inside. when you plug it in, it should turn clock wise. that's why it's strange that it goes in the opposite direction too. >> the mechanic removed the motor from the pump and checked everything out.

he fixed some of the wiring. it took 30 minutes. >> before it was spinning in both directions but now it's spinning clock wise. does that mean it's fixed? >> not completely but you can take it home and try it. >> okay. we'll see how it works. >> be careful. >> what should i worry about? >> try not to leave it running for long. >> the emergency repair was finally complete.

back in the village he explained the situation to his neighbors. >> translator: the pump stopped working. so i took it in to be fixed. i was told that i should buy a new one. even a mechanic in the city didn't have the necessary components so he couldn't fix it completely. that's why i'm asking all of you to help out. >> tarwen, the book keeper, made her report. >> the current balance is 961 thousand rupios. >> around 30 nearby households use methane gas from the plant. each pays about 20,000 rubios a

month. it covers the plant's electricity and maintenance. whatever is left over is kept in reserve. however, there wasn't enough cash on hand to buy a new pump. >> couldn't we ask each house hold to donate say about 20 thousand? because if everyone pitched in, we'd surely be able to afford a new pump. a brand new one. >> would that be enough? >> 20,000 rupios for a pump? >> that's right. >> that's one-time only, right? >> once we buy it and the treatment plant starts working again, just make sure you pay your gas bill every month. >> the villagers decided the

20,000 rupio payment would be voluntary. no one would be forced to contribute. the following day she reintalled the pump inside the reservoir. the pump was once again sucking up waist water.

>> if it weren't for him, the treatment plant would have broken down long ago. >> maybe so. i'm the leader of this neighborhood. but i don't know anything about repairs or technical stuff. so he's always very helpful. >> he hopes to buy a new pump. by using the waist water from tofu makers to produce bio gas, they're addressing the issue of nutrient pollution. and it's become a model that the government hopes other communities will soon be able to follow.

mandate on how to use the expected revenue from a