Effect of lockdown during Covid-19 pandemic on the water quality of Citarum River, Indonesia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted several business activities due to restrictions on community mobilization. During the pandemic, the Indonesian government implemented a lockdown with the term PSBB (Large-Scale Social Restrictions). Affected activities include industrial operations and other business activities in the Citarum watershed, West Java, Indonesia. This lockdown condition can potentially affect the water quality of the Citarum River. This study aims to determine the quality of the Citarum River due to the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research was conducted using qualitative methods. The data obtained in this study is monitoring data obtained from the West Java Environmental Service. The data being compared is water quality in July 2020 and August 2019. The monitoring locations chosen were Wangisagara, Koyod, Nanjung and Walahar. Comparisons of data show that there has been an increase in water quality for several parameters. TSS concentrations decreased at all locations, while BOD and COD concentrations decreased at the Koyod and Nanjung locations. However, these 2 locations showed an increase in the MBAS value. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the lockdown imposed for residents’ mobility reduced the entry of waste from business activities, thereby improving the quality of the Citarum River.