Profile of seawater quality in Cirebon, northern coast of West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Cirebon is a coastal area where the economic activities of some people rely on water conditions. Besides that, the city is known to have an industrial area. Therefore, along with the rapid development of industrializations and urbanizations, it will also have an impact on the environmental quality particularly in coastal area. Assessing the profile of water quality could be the approach to knowing the environmental conditions. This research was aimed to understanding the current coastal condition based on the physical-chemical properties in Cirebon seawater. The data was collected using Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) and nutrient auto analyzer (NAA). Several parameters were collected including temperature, salinity, pH, levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), concentration of chlorophyll, nitrate (NO₃-N), nitrite (NO₂-N), ammonia (NH₃-N), orthophosphate (PO₄-P) and silicate (SiO₂) from 11 points of survey area. The results showed that several parameters were similar in all stations, while some had different values between stations. Nutrient’s enrichment and chlorophyll were found to be higher in particular areas. The highest NO₂-N content found in station 10 (0.005 mg/L), NO₃-N in station 7 (0.343 mg/L), NH₃-N in station 10 (0.044 mg/L), PO₄-P in station 1 (0.087 mg/L), SiO₂ in station 6 (1.281 mg/L) and chlorophyll in station 11 (2.12 ug/L). The average concentration was relatively found to be high in the station near the coastal area compared to the open sea. This can happen due to supply of organic substances into the coastal waters from the rivers that were being carried away by the current.