Plans were made in the 1990s to rehabilitate the irrigation works and dam the river to provide water for industrial projects, with Dutch and Japanese assistance, but these were cancelled by the Indonesian government.

The Ci Durian rises on the slopes of the 1,929 metres (6,329 ft) high Mount Halimun and flows northward through the Banten region.

The main ones are the Peteh, called the Banten on the lower reaches near the city of Kota Banten, the Ujung, which enters the sea at Pontang, the Durian, which enters the sea at Tanara, the Manceuri, and the Sadane, which rises in the mountainous region of Priyangan and 1682 formed the border between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) territory and Batavia (modern Jakarta).

[7] After 1700 sugar production in Banten was revived, mostly in the swampy Ci Durian delta, which had the water needed to grow sugarcane.

Newcomers such as Malays settled without permission in the area to work the sugar plantations, but the bulk of the labor force was Chinese from Batavia.

[5] In 1911 the colonial government started to prepare an irrigation plan, and in 1914 determined that various tracts in the plain should be subject to compulsory purchase for this purpose.

[16] The Ci Durian River Intake Weir was built by Hollandsche Deton Maatschappij, which was praised for its good work in 1926.

[18] Planned extensions to the Ci Durian irrigation network were delayed in the post-colonial era, as were repairs to the existing works.

[23] A 1994 report said the Environmental Impact Control Agency had checked on untreated waste being dumped by the P. T. Indah Pulp and Paper Company into the Ci Durian River.

They found that although the company had built an advanced facility for treating wastewater, it was not used at night when untreated waste was released into the river.