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View all search resultsA disaster that never ends: Lapindo mudflow still shapes lives 20 years on
Despite the constant threat of flooding, ongoing land subsidence and mounting health risks linked to contaminated water, soil and air, residents say there has been no meaningful long-term resolution from the government to address the enduring impacts of the mudflow.
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An aerial photo shows a containment pond at the center of the Lapindo mudflow eruption site in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, on Feb. 8, 2026. The Environment Ministry says it will soon prepare a Strategic Environmental Assessment as part of its efforts to manage the Lapindo mud disaster, which continues to spew hot mud from underground. (Antara/Umarul Faruq)
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nder the sweltering afternoon sun, 47-year-old Ahmad Solihudin waits outside his home in Glagaharum village, Porong district, Sidoarjo regency, East Java, for the familiar sound of a traveling water vendor’s motorcycle. When the vendor finally arrives, Solihudin hurries to buy three 25-liter plastic containers for Rp 15,000 (84 US cents), the clean water his family depends on each day.
For nearly 20 years, this has been part of Solihudin’s daily routine, a lasting consequence of the Lapindo mudflow disaster, which erupted in Porong district in 2006 and buried thousands of homes across nearby villages.
Although authorities managed to restrain the mudflow above ground by constructing embankments rising 9–11 meters high, they have not been able to contain its impact beneath the surface, where it continues to seep through the soil, contaminating wells and damaging groundwater supplies in surrounding communities.
“Since the disaster, the well water here has tasted salty. It’s greasy too, like it contains oil. Even soap can’t wash it away. During the dry season, the water quality gets even worse and it turns black,” he said.
With water quality this poor, Solihudin, like most residents in his village, has no choice but to spend a significant portion of his modest income on clean water delivered by traveling vendors who bring supplies from outside the regency, at a cost of up to Rp 450,000 a month.
The environmental damage of the mudflow extends far beyond household wells. Hundreds of hectares of rice fields that once yielded abundant harvests now lie abandoned around the mudflow area. Farmers say saline groundwater causes newly planted crops to wither within days.
Solihudin pointed to stretches of farmland near his home, just about 100 meters from the eastern side of the mud embankment, where productive rice fields have since turned into empty plots overgrown with wild grass. Some are now used only as grazing land for buffalo.
