The Citarum river had the title of being the dirtiest river in the world. Deforestation in upstream areas, unplanned and unsupervised land clearing, pollution from household and industrial waste all contributed to the cause of the dirty 270 kilometers of the river.

The government has undertaken several initiatives to clean up the Citarum river, one of which is by creating the Citarum Harum program. This program requires the conditions of the Citarum river to be recorded and controlled starting from upstream to downstream. Data collection programs, water quality measurements, and several other programs of course require suitable supporting tools. To support the program, lecturers from the Human and Industrial Products Design Research Group FSRD ITB, Dr. Muhammad Ihsan D.R.S.A.S. with team executor, Bismo Jelantik Joyodiharjo, M.Ds. and research assistant, Miftahul Jannah in collaboration with an aluminum boat manufacturer from Yogyakarta ‘The Trekkers’ conducted community service programs by designing gangboat that can take researchers from one point to another in the Citarum river flow to support research activities, river patrols, and garbage collection. “Gangboat is a boat that is designed to be able to move well in the narrow area and adapted to the conditions of the Citarum river which is filled with trash,” said Dr. Ihsan. With such a design, this boat can also become a means of delivering aid or evacuating people who are caught in the flood around the Citarum river which cannot be reached by normal rubber boats.*