ANALISA PENGGUNAAN METODE FILTRASI PADA PENGOLAHAN AIR SUNGAI SERATAI DI DESA TEPIAN BATANG

Abstract

Rivers include surface freshwater systems that are used by communities as the main source of water for household and agricultural purposes. There is a decrease in quality due to increased human activity along the watershed. One effective and simple solution to overcome this is the application of filtration methods. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of filtration in  the treatment of Seratai river water in Tepian Batang Village. The river water is filtered using two filter columns with a down flow through a filter medium that varies the height of silica sand (2.5; 5; 7.5; 10; and 12.5 cm) and activated carbon (12.5; 10; 7.5; 5; and 2.5 cm) obtained as a result of filtrate. The quality of river water is tested on parameters such as temperature, TDS, turbidity, pH, and total coliform. The best results in KF5 were 25oC, turbidity from 31.4 NTU to 2.98 NTU with an efficiency of 90.6% and TDS from 393 mg/L down to 111 mg/L with an efficiency of 71.8%, and a pH of 8.1 slightly alkaline. However, the filtration process has not been optimal in reducing the total coliform. Therefore, a two-column filtration system that uses a variety of filtration media heights such as silica sand, gravel, activated carbon, and sponges is able to significantly improve river water quality, especially physical and chemical parameters but has not been able to improve biological parameters.