Effectivity of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) as bio filter for microbiological water quality in Purwomartani Housing, Kalasan, Sleman, DIY

Abstract

Water is one of the most important needs for organisms. However, microbial contamination in water has become serious issue recently. We were interested to reduce the microbial contamination in water by using biological agents such as water hyacinth. In some studies, water hyacinth has antimicrobial activities as well as their function as phytoremediation agent. This research was done to study the effectiveness of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms as bio filter against coliform in water of Mataram water channel in Yogyakarta. The bio filter were arranged as following layer; gravel, zeolite and water hyacinth as the most upper part of bio filter. It was then set with the direction along with the river flow. The water samples were then taken triplicates, each from the upstream (before bio filter treatment) and downstream (after bio filter treatment). It were then continued by Most Probable Number (MPN) test which include the presumptive, confirmed, and completed test. The MPN results showed that coliform in the upstream were found about 57.34 ± 54.35 MPN / 100 ml while in the downstream were about 808 ± 678.96 MPN / 100 ml. The statistical test showed that the difference between upstream and downstream were not significant. Thus it can be concluded that water hyacinth bio filter was not effectively used as bio filter against coliform bacteria.