Geographia Technica, Vol. 15, Special Issue, 2020, pp 113 to 122 AUTOMATION OF DRINKING WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS IN RURAL AREA Eko NURSUBIYANTORO 1 , ISMIANTI 1 , Astrid Wahyu Adventri WIBOWO 1 DOI: 10.21163/GT_2020.151.28 ABSTRACT: All living things need water to live. The increasing population in the world results the increased demand of water, include in Indonesia. Water scarcity is also a big issue in Indonesia, especially in rural area like Gunung Kidul. In Gunung Kidul people difficult to get clean water. Clean water can be obtained with drinking water system. The drinking water system that now exist in Temuireng Village, Girisuko, Panggang, Gunung Kidul could meet the water need of the people, but there is a problem with the design of the water treatment system. The drinking water treatment system still use semimanual mechanism that less effective and efficient. The purpose of this research is to design the automatic drinking water treatment system that now exist in Temuireng Village to improve the quality of the water in that area and to reduce the operating cost of the systems. With considering the need, technology and some other aspects, this research obtained the new prototype design of the drinking water treatment systems that be equipped with automation. Key-words: Automation, Design, Prototype, Rural area, Water treatment system 1. INTRODUCTION Water is one of the most important resources for life. All living things need water to live and develop. Safe water is important for humans, plants, and animals (Abu Hasan, Muhammad, & Ismail, 2020). In Indonesia, the increasing population results the increased demand of water but the water resource availability was limited (Kardono, 2007). Many water sources that are commonly used are not as good as they used to be (Wiyono, Faturrahman, & Syauqiah, 2017). Once the water has been contaminated by toxic compounds, it must be treated before can be consumed by people (Abu Hasan et al., 2020). The water contaminations occur because of a few key factors, i.e. industrial and sewage effluent discharge, agricultural industry, illegal garbage disposal and leakage of leachate from landfills (Hasan, Abdullah, Kofli, & Yeoh, 2016). Nowadays, clean water supply becomes one of the big issues in the world, especially in developing country (Nandiyanto & Haristiani, 2016). Unlike urban areas where water pollution is usually caused by poor wastewater treatment, in rural areas water sources are still good but the problem is the difficulty of accessing good water source (Apip, Sagala, & Pingping, 2015) (Luo et al., 2019). This scarcity of water can cause the disruption of life. This water scarcity is main issue in Gunung Kidul, includes in Temuireng, Girisuko, Panggang, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta (Sugiarto & Suharwanto, 2017). Water stress can caused by lack of awareness of tree planting, the use of water for households is increasing, exploration and use of water for industrial, especially manufacturing (Dwianika, Murwaningsari, & Suparta, 2020). (Haryadi & Sudarmadji, 2014). Gunung Kidul as an area 1 Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Yogyakarta, Jl. SWK 104 Lingkar Utara, Condong Catur, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, eko_nsby072@upnyk.ac.id; ismianti@upnyk.ac.id; astrid.wahyu@upnyk.ac.id.