Changing Water Environment in the Greater Jakarta Basins

Abstract:

Recent rapid economic development in the greater Jakarta areas has caused not only increased water resources demands but also affects the water environment due to population increase and land use changes, that further causes land degradation, and changes in hydrologic regimes and environmental qualities. In the present study, the water environmental capacities as indicated by the changing landscapes in the greater Jakarta basins were investigated to understand the role of land use management and its impact on water resources, ecosystem and environmental services. The Ciliwung river basin where rapid population increases and progresses of the land use/cover changes occurring was selected as a representative basin, and 41 water samplings were taken at different time of Jan. 08, Apr. 08, Jul. 08, and Oct. 08 during 2009 to understand the effect of rainfall variation on water quality, and clarify the characteristics of hydrological cycle. Landuse changes of the upper basins as can be seen for the upper basin indicated the expansion of settlements during 1990 to 2004 from 4.1% to 17.6% or in acreage increased almost five times, not only converting forested area, but mostly taking place from paddy fields that contributed about 50% of the additional land for new settlements. Urbanization expanding around the greater Jakarta basins, is closely related to the increased fluctuations of river discharges in recent years, with recurrence floods quickly after heavy rainfall events. Furthermore, the study results indicated that water quality of Ciliwung river, especially the loading concentrations of nitric acid closely reflects the population densities of the watershed. These results suggest that the land use/cover changes of the greater Jakarta basins affect largely the change of water environment of the areas and resulting a deteriorated factor for water resources, ecosystems and environmental services in both of quantity and quality