Jurnal Ilmu Kelautan P-ISSN: 2460-0156 SPERMONDE (2020) 6(2): 1-9 E-ISSN: 2614-5049 THE STATUS OF ORGANIC POLLUTION AND THEIR SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION IN THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH SULAWESI A. Suci Islameini H. 1.2 , M. Farid Samawi 1 , Ahmad Faizal 1 *, Shinta Werorilang 1 , Abd. Rasyid 1 Submitted: December 22, 2020 Accepted: March 3, 2021 1 Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Marine Science and Fisheries, University of Hasanuddin 2 Student at Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Marine Science and Fisheries, University of Hasanuddin Corresponding Author: 1 *Ahmad Faizal E-mail: ahmad.faizal@unhas.ac.id ABSTRACT Aquaculture activities produce organic wastes that are discharged into coastal waters and may impact the water quality. This research aimed to study the status of organic pollution and its spatial distribution on the west coast of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Water was sampeld from two locations (Punaga Village, Takalar Regency (an open water system), and Bojo Village, Barru District (in a bay, a semi-closed water system)). Water quality was assessed by using the STORET index. Whilst to assess the spatial distribution of organic waste, an interpolation technique was used. Results showed that the water quality was categorized as highly polluted by organic pollution. The distribution of the organic pollutant, however, showed a different spatial pattern between the two locations. The difference was may be due to the different origin of the pollutant and geomorphology of the sampling locations. Keywords: Organic pollution, water quality status, spatial distribution, West coast of South Sulawesi INTRODUCTION Anthropogenic activities on land are the main source of organic pollutants in coastal waters and may impact the water quality (Garno, 2004). The increasing number of anthropogenic activities on land, such as aquaculture, industrial, mining, and domestics, trigger the increasing amount of organic matter entering the coastal waters (Golterman, 2004; Amin et al, 2017). The organic matter discharged into coastal waters is influenced by several factors, such as river runoffs, rainfall, and the intense use of organic matter on land (Seyhan, 1977; Lihan et al, 2008; Chazottes et al, 2008). Apart from that, the increasing human population in the catchment area (Davies, 2004) and the oceanographic condition (Lihan et al., 2008) may also take part in organic pollution discharged into coastal waters. Furthermore, the intensity of organic matter discharged into coastal waters is higher in the wet season compares to the dry season. In certain conditions, a big amount of organic wastes end up in coastal waters. These may create problems in coastal areas. Such problems include a huge amount of decomposed matter, oxygen depletion, toxic gases, deaths of biota (Garno, 2004) as well as an ecosystem imbalance (Costa et al., (2006). Considering several anthropogenic activities, especially aquaculture, it is important to study the water quality status in various regions. Organic pollutions can be determined by measuring the water quality parameters such as Total Organic Matter (TOM), NO3 - (Nitrate), and PO4 - (Phosphate). Waterbodies are considered polluted when the value of the pollutant load is greater than the water quality standards (Garno, 2004; Wulandari, 2018). South Sulawesi is a province with aquaculture as its main commodity, especially fish cultured in ponds. The area of fish ponds in South Sulawesi covers 49,679 hectares where most of them (i.e. 30,436 hectares or 61% of the total pond area) are located on the west coast (BPS, 2020 ). Having aquaculture as its main commodity, it showed that the west coast of South Sulawesi has a relatively high concentration of organic pollution, especially in river estuaries (Faizal, 2012), where shrimp pond outlets are located (Paena et al., 2020). Based on these, it is necessary to study the organic pollutions in the waters of the west coast of South Sulawesi. Hence, this research aimed to know the status of water quality, to map the spatial distribution of the organic pollutions on the west coast of South Sulawesi, and provide information on the distribution patterns of organic pollution in this area. To map the distribution pattern of the organic pollutions, we applied geographic information systems on the results of the organic pollution parameter (Wiriani & Hutwan Yarifudin, 2018). This research was conducted to provide information about the impacts of organic pollution produced by aquaculture activities on the water quality on the west coast of South Sulawesi, i.e. a semi-closed or bay area of Bojo brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Universitas Hasanuddin: e-Journals