Infiltration ability in the area of land use change, Bogor, West Java

Abstract

The upstream of the Cisadane Watershed is included in the Mount Halimun Salak National Park area as the water catchment area. Water resource conservation is important because of land use change. Rainfall analysis was carried out to determine the rain intensity amount. Then, infiltration observations were also carried out in Ecosystem Restoration (ER) areas. ER is an area in the rehabilitation zone that requires improvement, especially in biophysical improvement. Several ER areas are in Cibunian Village and Purwabakti Village. The analysis determined the infiltration rates in the ER areas. Field surveys carried out data collection on infiltration sample measurements. Sample points were selected using Stratified Random Sampling. The results show the average rainfall in the study area is around 3950 mm/year. The results show the infiltration ability in the ER area is relatively slow. However, there are still results of rapid infiltration at several sample points. Due to limited water absorption capacity, soil characteristics with clay texture influence slow infiltration conditions. Even though the rainfall is high, surface water runoff is quickly formed. The rainfall in the Cisadane watershed should be stored to reserve water supply, especially during the dry season. In detail, water storage can be an infiltration pit, artificial water storage tanks, reservoirs, or ponds. The limited availability of water resources challenges water uses in the Cisadane Watershed. This research is essential as an initial study to find out more about the watershed hydrological system and the water demand level.