The potency of water availability and its use by the community around the Mount Merbabu National Park

¹ Alumny of the Faculty of Forestry UGM, FRC Department, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
² Lecturer of the Faculty of Forestry, UGM, FRC Department, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: ambar_kusumandari@ugm.ac.id

Abstract

Water is one of the basic needs for every living thing, including humans. This study aims to determine the availability of water in the two springs, the utilization of water by the community around MMNP, the vegetation characteristics of the spring catchment areas, and the Water Use Index (WUI). Data of water availability was taken using the volumetric method. Water utilization by the community is collected by doing the interviews with the respondents. The vegetation characteristics is analyzed based on the vegetation density by using the NDVI method. Meanwhile, the Water Use Index (WUI) is obtained from a comparison between water demand and water supply. The results showed that the water debit available in the Tuk Simuncar and Tuk sipendok was 23.22 liters/second and 31.20 liters/second which were classified as class IV. The area of Tuk simuncar is dominated by high density vegetation (75 Ha), while Tuk Sipendok is dominated by moderate density vegetation (102.28 Ha). The community around MMNP uses 211 liters of water for household needs, 59 liters for livestock, and 10 liters for agriculture. The Water Use Index (WUA) of the two springs has a value of 0.3 which is included in the low level.