Ground water quality in natural forest and private forest (a case study in catchment area of lake Rawapening, Semarang District Central Java)

Abstract

The availability and especially the quality of water are strongly influenced by forests (natural and private forest) and depend on proper forest management. Research location is in the catchment area of Lake Rawapening. The objective of this study was to identify groundwater quality in the area of natural forests (NF) and private forests (PF). Distribution and extent of both natural and private forests can be obtained from Indonesia Topographic Map, scale of 1:25,000 produced in the year of 2001 and updated with SPOT 2 image recorded in July 5th 2006. Groundwater samples were taken from natural and private forest as many as 3 samples. All the samples were taken during the dry and rainy season. Total amount of the samples were 12 and were analyzed in the laboratory of hydrology. The quality of groundwater is determined based on the regulation of the Ministry of Health of Republic of Indonesia No. 492/Menkes/Per/IV/2010. The results indicated that water samples from natural forests (NF1, NF2 and NF3) and private forests (PF1, PF2 and PF3) can be categorized as qualify for drinking water.