Macrozoobenthos diversity as a bioindicator for the pollution status of Citarik River, West Java

Abstract

Citarik River is one of the sub-watersheds of the Citarum River, which flows through to three administrative regions, namely Bandung Regency, Garut Regency, and Sumedang Regency. Citarik River is used for irrigation to support ponds and rice fields, however many industrial wastes and domestic wastes were disposed into Citarik River therefore it causes river water pollution. Macrozoobenthos diversity is an index that can be used to determine the pollution status of the river. The study was conducted between March to April 2019 at four sampling stations for four sampling times. All sampling stations are located in Bandung Regency. Station 1,2,3,4 are located in Mt. Kareumbi, Cicalengka, Haurpugur, and Solokan Jeruk, respectively. The highest value of diversity index of macrozoobenthos was observed at station 1 with the value of 2.01, whereas the lowest was at station 4 with the value of 0.69. The dominant species at station 4 are Pomacea sp. and Filopaludina sp. Both species belong to the class of gastropods. Based on the diversity index of macrozoobenthos, the pollution status of Citarik River at station 1 was an unpolluted category, station 2 was medium polluted, station 3 and 4 have been polluted heavily.