Baru Barat River

The name "Kali Baru" (New River) is connected to the fishing harbor in Tanjung Priok area. In the 1960s, the harbor was established to replace the Kali Kresek Lahoa fishing harbor that was closed in 1967. The area was divided into two parts: Kalibaru Timur (Eastern Kali Baru) and Kalibaru Barat (Western Kali Baru).[5] Although the fishing harbor was closed in 1988, the harbor became place to unload woods in Jakarta, but the name continues to be used for the rivers and areas.[6]

In 1739, the Dutch East Indies government under the Governor General Van Imhoff built Oosterslokkan ("Eastern Canal") for irrigation and transportation of goods from inlands. The canal was completed 14 years later, in 1753, but the effort to use it as transportation way failed due to many leaking and high cost of building multiple water gates. Finally, it is used only for irrigation.[7] In 1753, Oosterslokkan was lengthened to the eastern canal at Weltevreden (Lapangan Banteng), joining Prapatan canal, to be known as "Kali Baru", and currently as "Kali Baru Timur" (Baru Timur River). As the eastern canal required high maintenance and repair costs, in 1776, Van Imhoff ordered the opening of another canal from Cisadane River to flow into Ci Liwung. This canal was called Westerslokkan ("Western Canal"), and currently is called "Kali Baru Barat" (Baru Bart River).[2][7] While the eastern canal was dug from Katulampa until Meester (Jatinegara) and received additional water supply from Cikeas River until Sunter River, the Westerslokkan or the eastern canal flowed from Cisadane River, passing Cipakancilan River, into Kali Baru Barat, Matraman (Minangkabau River), and discharging into Banjir Kanal Barat.[8]

Baru Barat River was built to connect Cisadane and Ciliwung Rivers in the northern part of Bogor, and functioned to irrigate the rice and fruit fields in Cilebut, Citayam, Depok, Pondok Cina, Tanjung Barat, and Pondok Labu. Now, the part connected to Ciliwung is already closed.[7]

Baru Barat River is grouped into the Central Area Stream Handling System of Jakarta, along with Krukut River, Ci Liwung, and Banjir Kanal/Tarum Barat, with a total entry debit at the upstream of 50 m³/sec and at the downstream of 290 m³/sec, and the exit debit at the upstream of 150 m³/sec and at the downstream of 370 m³/sec, from about 17 tributaries.[9][10]

In 2016 the river had a width of 3 meter and looked clear. The depth reached only the toes in the dry season, but up to 1 meter in the rain season.[11] The bottom and banks of the river were covered by green algae and wild bushes, giving a green tint to the river despite the transparent water.[11]

The river flows in the northwest area of Java with predominantly tropical rainforest climate (designated as Af in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification).[12] The annual average temperature in the area is 27 °C. The warmest month is March, when the average temperature is around 30 °C, and the coldest is May, at 26 °C.[13] The average annual rainfall is 3674 mm. The wettest month is December, with an average of 456 mm rainfall, and the driest is September, with 87 mm rainfall.[14]

Baru Barat River is one of flooding sources in Jakarta,[15] mainly due to the accumulation of garbage thrown into the river.[4] The government strived to clean the river and the result was shown in 2015 that more children could play in the river.[11][16]

• List of rivers of Java