The Self-Purification Ability in The Rivers of Banjarmasin, Indonesia

Abstract

The river water Self-purification capacity is an essential indicator for a healthy river. Various organic and inorganic pollutants, both point sources and nonpoint sources, in most streams in Banjarmasin have been beyond the river self-purification capacity, which causes river water quality decreased. This study tried to identify the river water pollution distribution in the city of Banjarmasin and determined the self-purification points. We used the purposive sampling technique to carried out river water sampling, with criteria for pollutant sources and distance of pollution as a consideration. By using trend analysis techniques, we analyzed the parameters concentration to relate it to the range of pollution so that we were able to identify the pollution distribution and determined the self-purification distances. The results indicated that the self-purification process could take place on the river flow in of Banjarmasin even though it did not reach the clean water zone. The river in Banjarmasin requires a longer purification distance so that the self-purification process can run correctly.

Keywords

• self-purfication
• river water pollution
• banjarmasin river