The earlier 4th-century BCE prehistoric Buni clay pottery-making culture flourished near the river's mouth.

Pollution has affected agriculture so much that farmers have sold their rice paddies for half their normal price.

[9] The river is heavily polluted by human activity; about five million people live in its basin (the drainage area covers 6,929 km2).

[12] According to the documentary Green Warriors Indonesia by Martin Boudot, some of the other toxins include sulphites, nonylphenol, Phthalates, PCB 180, paranitrophenol, tributylphosphate.

It was thus also proposed in the documentary that a revisal of the textile industry guidelines could include more parameters such as sulphites and heavy metals.

On December 5, 2008, the Asian Development Bank approved a $500 million loan for cleaning up the river, calling it the world's dirtiest.

But with wider internet publicity, and now the top-down government enforcement, more foreign consultants are coming in to recommend necessary changes upstream, and local awareness and anti-plastics campaigns are beginning to take effect.