Ground water near fishpond may not be safe
Ground water near fishpond may not be safe
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
People living near fishponds need to take care in using ground
water as it may be polluted with bacteria and other micro-
organisms from water used to clean fishponds, a study revealed.
A field study carried out by the National University (Unas) at
Prapat village in Pangandaran, West Java, reveals that ground
water surrounding fishponds is highly polluted with organisms and
coliform of bacteria.
The study was among those presented at a symposium on Saturday
at the university. Founded by one of the country's literary
giants, the late Sutan Takdir Alisyahbana, a controversial
advocate of rationality, is the country's oldest school of
biology.
Conducted in August by a five-member team of Unas lecturers,
the study shows that the ground water of nine shallow wells
supporting nine households around the fishpond contains an
organic level of between 88.48 milligrams per liter (mg/L) and
236.7 mg/L. It said the normal level of organisms contained in
clean water should not exceed 10 mg/L.
The study further shows that the ground water contains a high
level of coli-form of bacteria which the researchers said, is an
indication of contamination by e-coli -- the Escherichia coli
bacteria found in human feces.
"One suggestion is to expand septic tanks to enable them to
hold the water used to clean the fishpond and to prevent it from
polluting the ground water," said researcher Yeremiah R. Camin.
Currently, the locals use septic tanks to retain water used to
clean the fishpond.
Yeremiah explained that the study was conducted due to local
residents' complaints of the ground water.
"We visited the place two years ago and the residents
complained that it (the ground water) had a bad fish odor and
looked murky," he said.
"The study does not say that such high levels of bacteria and
other micro-organisms will immediately result in diarrhea or
other skin diseases, as we will need to conduct another study on
that. But it does state that people should be careful in using
ground water, especially when they live near fishponds, as it may
not be clean or safe for consumption," he told The Jakarta Post.