Water quality and sustainability of Merdada Lake, Dieng, Indonesia

Abstract

The volcanic lakes in Dieng Plateau offer some unique phenomena, which interest not only tourists but also scientists. However, as the land use changes, the lakes are now facing environmental degradation especially from agricultural practices. This research aims to study the impact of agricultural practices on the environmental degradation of the lakes especially the water quality and analyze the sustainability of the lakes to support water needs. Merdada Volcanic Lake, one of the lakes in Dieng Plateau was selected as the focus of this research. Method conducted on this research are fields survey to collect the physical parameters temperature and conductivity also chemical parameters like pH, Nitrate, BOD, phosphate, and coliform. A complementary data was acquired using interviews method for defining the sustainability of the lake. Based on observation, water level of the lake is gradually decreased, especially during the dry season. At the same time, the agricultural practices in the surrounding area led to soil erosion, which involved surface runoff that transporting sediments into the lake. This research found that the practices of potato cultivation pumped out the water from Merdada Volcanic Lake and distributed over the plantation area. This practice caused a dramatic decrease in the water surface. Besides that, the agricultural practices had several adverse effects on the volcanic lakes in Dieng Plateau especially eutrophication and decrease of water quality in Merdada Lake where nitrate is over from water quality standard class II. Coliform also has an over expected value, range from 3–11 MPN/100 ml.