The Arsenic Contamination of the Shallow Coastal Aquifers in the North Coast of Java

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the Arsenic (As) metal contamination of the shallow aquifers in  Jakarta, Semarang, and Surabaya city of Java and its relation to the highly developed industrial and domestic activities in the coastal region. Arsen  was assayed in the waters of  30 wells throughout the terrestrial cities, in residential zones using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) technique. Analysis of the As level revealed that high As contents were found primarily in Jakarta, to a maximum of 59.65 μg L⁻¹. The mean and standard deviation of As in Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya were 15.47 ± 18.79, 1.25 ± 2.05 and 0.59 ± 0.26 μgL^-1, respectively. The groundwater As concentration  shows a correlation with Fe significantly. It was concluded that the levels of As in some investigated 3 Indonesian metropolis cities were below the maximum allowable concentrations of metals recommended by Indonesian Drinking & Domestic Water Quality Standard for Ground Water and WHO’s (World Health Organization)Guideline Values for Drinking Water, except for station 5 and 6 of Jakarta.

Keywords: Arsenic (As), AAS, coastal aquifer