Indonesia's Citarum River burbles past terraced rice paddies and quiet farming villages in the highlands of West Java as it begins to wind its way hundreds of kilometers toward the sea.
But the charm evaporates swiftly as the river, often labeled the world's most polluted, descends 300 kilometers (190 miles) past crowded zones of factories and homes that dump a pungent stew of garbage, waste and sewage into it.
"The water looks like it has been mixed with the waste, and sometimes it smells like ointment," said Nurhayati, who lives in the riverside town of Majalaya, 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Jakarta.