Sains Malaysiana 42(11)(2013): 1539–1548

 

The 'Black Waters' of Malaysia: Tracking Water Quality from the Peat Swamp

Forest to the Sea

('Air Hitam' di Malaysia: Menyusuri Kualiti Air dari Hutan Paya Gambut ke Laut)

 

 

KIM IRVINE¹*, STEPHEN VERMETTE¹& FIRUZA BEGHAM MUSTAFA²

 

¹Department of Geography and Planning; and Center for Southeast Asia Environment and

Sustainable Development, Buffalo State, State University of New York

Buffalo, 1300 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, NY, 14222, USA

 

²Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

Received: 19 July 2012/Accepted: 8 May 2013

 

ABSTRACT

Longitudinal water quality trends were assessed in the Tengi River system, Selangor, Malaysia, as the water moved from a peat swamp forest, through different agricultural land uses and finally through a town and then to the Straits of Malacca. Water draining from the peat swamp forest was dark in color due to its organic content and low in dissolved oxygen, pH, E. coli, calcium, nitrate and ammonia. The normal diurnal pattern for water temperature was observed for the peat swamp forest drainage, but there was no clear diurnal pattern evident in the dissolved oxygen data. The E. coli levels increased monotonically from the peat swamp forest waters (0 colonies/100 mL) through the agricultural areas (100-2000 colonies/100 mL) and town (7100 colonies/100 mL) and similarly pH increased along the same continuum. Dissolved oxygen increased from the peat swamp forest through the agricultural areas, but was lower in the town-impacted reach of the Tengi River.

 

Keywords: Dissolved oxygen; E. coli; land use; peat swamp forest; Selangor

 

ABSTRAK

Analisis corak perubahan kualiti air telah dilakukan di Sungai Tengi di Selangor, Malaysia. Perubahan guna tanah berlaku di sepanjang kawasan aliran sungai iaitu bermula dari hutan paya gambut, pelbagai kawasan pertanian dan seterusnya melalui kawasan pekan dan akhirnya mengalir keluar ke Selat Melaka. Air sungai yang mengalir dari kawasan hutan paya gambut berwarna gelap kerana kandungan organik yang tinggi. Air tersebut mempunyai kandungan rendah bagi parameter oksigen terlarut (DO), pH (asid), bakteriaE. coli, kalsium (Ca), nitrat (NO₃^-) dan amonia (NH₃). Hasil kajian mendapati parameter air mempunyai pola diurnal yang normal, tetapi tiada pola diurnal yang jelas bagi parameter oksigen terlarut. Analisis mendapati oksigen terlarut meningkat dari kawasan hutan paya gambut ke kawasan pertanian dan seterusnya berkurangan apabila melalui kawasan pekan dan petempatan di Tanjung Karang. TahapE. coli meningkat secara selanjar iaitu di hutan paya gambut (0 koloni/100 mL), kawasan pertanian (100-2000 koloni/100 mL) dan pekan (7100 koloni/100 mL). Parameter pH meningkat sepanjang kontinum yang sama.

 

Kata kunci: E. Coli; guna tanah; hutan paya gambut; kualiti air; oksigen terlarut; Selangor

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*Corresponding author; email: irvinekn@buffalostate.edu