Understanding Cikapundung (v.1)

Event: SMART Seminar Series UoW, 23 March 2017

Affiliation:

Applied Geology Research Group

Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology

Institut Teknologi Bandung

Tel: +62222514990; Fax: +62222514837

Email: erwin[@]fitb[.]itb[.]ac[.]id

Cikapundung river is 28.5 km in length, flows from the northern to the southern Bandung highlands. The river flows through Bandung city bringing good quality water for water supply for nearly 2.5 Million of population, as well as small 800 kW of electricity for some parts of the city. The river is part of the larger Citarum River Basin, the largest river basin in West Java Province, 6600 km^2. In total this basin receives 2300 mm of rainfall annually, supplying water to 300,000 ha of rice fields and five major developing areas.

Whilst we have a good quantity of water from Cikapundung river, we have a poor water quality, as the river flows deeper into the city. Some slums and industrial zones contribute to the mild to heavy contaminations. In our research history, we noted some contaminations from heavy metals, nitrates, and organic substances. In 1980's there were several attempts to map the organic contents of the river, and it showed a increase value towards down stream. After that there was no published paper on the same topic, as it will bring an interesting point of view to compare the earlier condition with recent development. In the early 1990's there were some geological maps in Bandung area, and groundwater and river water level mapping to identify the flowing interactions between the two water bodies. Then in 2010-2015, there were some activities in my faculty (Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology) to make a numerical model on the flow system as well as, annual water quality measurements in the city, as also in the Cikapundung riverbank. We noted a loss of river discharge as the results of water leakage to the fractured lava aquifer. The Lembang Fault is the only tectonic feature to have caused such intensive fracturing. It also contribute as sealing boundary to differ groundwater quality on the north block and south block. Our group has also developed a manual citizen flood reporting to delineate flood boundary.

Currently we have run several continuing researches in physical and chemical aspects as well as flow modeling aspect. This year we add some analysis on micro organism identification to fill in the gap in biodiversity mapping along the riverbank. However we haven’t had any good time series data based on data logging tools. Another interesting topic would be the role of Cikapundung anda Citarum river to fight seasonal floods in southern Bandung lowlands. We are open to discuss any possibility of joint research and also to renew the MoU between UoW and ITB.

Short bio:

Dasapta Erwin Irawan was born and completed his whole education in Indonesia. He finished his PhD about hydrochemistry in volcanic area in 2009. Working his career at one of the oldest engineering university in Indonesia, Institut Teknologi Bandung, he has put his research interests on hydrochemistry and multivariate analysis, as he likes to see patterns and how it can show groundwater classification and how it moves beneath the ground. On his spare time, he learns open source apps (and yes he includes R) and how scientific people interact with each other and share their work. To give more contribution to open science, he is now registered and actively work his role as ambassador for ORCID and Center for Open Science. Oh and like other human being, he tweets as @dasaptaerwin.

Some contributors: