Land Use Transformation Impacting Water Sustainbility in Indonesian Watershed Systems

Authors

  • Asikin Muchtar Universitas Indonesia Timur

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55927/fjst.v4i11.306

Keywords:

Land Use Transformation, Water Sustainability, Indonesian Watershed Systems

Abstract

This study analyzes how land-use transformation affects water sustainability in the Tallo watershed of Makassar City, South Sulawesi. Using a descriptive quantitative approach with multi-temporal Landsat imagery (2000–2024) and secondary hydrological data, the research examines changes in land cover and their relationship to water availability and quality. GIS and correlation analyses show a significant decline in vegetated areas and expansion of built-up land, which are associated with reduced infiltration, increased runoff, and higher levels of total suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand. The findings indicate that uncontrolled land-use change has weakened the ecological resilience of the Tallo watershed and threatens urban water sustainability. The study highlights the need for integrated land and water management strategies that align spatial planning with watershed conservation to support sustainable urban development.

References

Anderson, J., & Li, S. (2022). Integrated approaches to watershed management in tropical regions: Hydrological and ecological perspectives. Journal of Environmental Management, 317, 115365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115365

Atharinafi, R., & Wijaya, B. (2021). Land use change and its effect on surface runoff in Cirasea Sub-Watershed, Indonesia. Environmental Earth Sciences, 80(7), 295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09583-7

Brontowiyono, W., Santosa, A., & Rahmawati, N. (2022). Industrial activities and river water pollution in urban Indonesia. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194(3), 174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-09845-3

Brown, K., Mulyani, S., & Setiono, H. (2024). Community participation and water resource sustainability in tropical watersheds. Sustainability, 16(5), 2411. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16052411

Chan, L. T., Nguyen, H. T., & Vu, M. Q. (2023). Land conversion and sedimentation dynamics in Southeast Asian river basins. Environmental Research Letters, 18(2), 024037. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acb83f

Chansri, S., Raharjo, D., & Utama, F. (2022). Urban sustainability and watershed conservation policy in developing regions. Cities, 129, 103815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103815

Fernandez, P., & Taboada, R. (2022). Statistical assessment of land-use impacts on water sustainability indicators. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 26(8), 4209–4225. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4209-2022

Garcia, M., Oliveira, J., & Pinto, A. (2022). Sustainable land management for reducing agricultural runoff and nutrient pollution. Agricultural Water Management, 271, 107766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107766

Gomez, C., Zhou, X., & Li, F. (2021). Hydrological responses to land use change in tropical watershed environments. Remote Sensing of Environment, 258, 112393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112393

Guterres, R., Wang, Q., & Farouk, T. (2023). Urban hydrological syndrome and resilience of tropical river systems. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 68(4), 512–527. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2023.2171127

Hassan, M., Rahim, A., & Noor, N. (2024). Predictive modeling of sediment load using GIS and climate data integration. Journal of Hydrology, 627, 130592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.130592

Hernandez, L., Choi, J., & Rivera, D. (2023). Integrated watershed management: Lessons from global case studies. Water Resources Research, 59(6), e2022WR033401. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033401

Huang, X., Zhao, Q., & Li, Y. (2021). Remote sensing analysis of tropical deforestation and hydrological impacts. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 103, 102494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2021.102494

Indarto, A., Ramadhani, F., & Yusuf, M. (2023). Urban sprawl and hydrological degradation in Indonesian metropolitan watersheds. Land Use Policy, 128, 106689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106689

Johnson, D., & Ahmed, R. (2022). Spatial hydrology modeling for watershed resilience assessment. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 27(7), 05022003. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0002158

Kato, M., & Ishikawa, K. (2022). Governance challenges in watershed conservation across Southeast Asia. Environmental Science & Policy, 139, 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.08.005

Kintoro, R., & Adji, T. (2025). Land cover transformation and groundwater vulnerability in tropical lowlands of Indonesia. Hydrological Processes, 39(1), e15634. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.15634

Kumar, S., Sharma, P., & Das, A. (2020). Water quality degradation and its implications for human health in developing regions. Environmental Pollution, 266, 115234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115234

Lei, Y., Zhang, Z., & Cheng, Y. (2022). Quantitative assessment of land-use change impacts on watershed hydrology. Science of the Total Environment, 806(3), 150576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150576

Liu, R., Yang, Z., & Shen, J. (2024). Sponge city implementation for urban water resilience: Lessons from China. Sustainable Cities and Society, 104, 104198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.104198

Lopez, V., Figueroa, J., & Chen, D. (2023). Evidence-based policy and GIS-based watershed management. Environmental Modelling & Software, 164, 105684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105684

Lubis, E., Prasetyo, R., & Mahendra, P. (2022). Monitoring urban watershed degradation using GIS and remote sensing in Indonesia. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 25, 100736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2022.100736

Mahmud, A., Latuamury, R., & Yusuf, T. (2023). Industrialization and water quality decline in urban tropical rivers. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(22), 63681–63693. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27191-8

Martinez, D., & Silva, P. (2023). Correlational methods in ecohydrological studies of land use and water sustainability. Ecohydrology, 16(2), e2502. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2502

Martinez, R., Lopez, G., & Xu, Y. (2024). Climate variability and watershed resilience under land-use transformation. Environmental Research, 238, 117083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.117083

Osei, G., Boateng, K., & Tetteh, J. (2021). Urban expansion and river sedimentation in tropical cities. Urban Water Journal, 18(6), 438–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2021.1897304

Park, J., & Kim, H. (2023). Urban expansion, impermeable surfaces, and hydrological resilience. Environmental Challenges, 12, 100675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2023.100675

Park, S., & Choi, Y. (2021). Drainage infrastructure and peak discharge management in urban basins. Water, 13(18), 2584. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13182584

Perez, L., Gomez, D., & Rivera, F. (2022). Socioeconomic transitions and land use change in tropical watersheds. Land, 11(4), 552. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11040552

Rahardjo, A., Mulyana, E., & Kusuma, H. (2023). Hydrological imbalances in Indonesian watersheds under rapid land-use change. Hydrology, 10(3), 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology10030058

Rahim, H., & Abdullah, F. (2020). Social equity and environmental justice in watershed policy frameworks. Environmental Policy and Governance, 30(5), 251–264. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1892

Rodriguez, P., & Tan, K. (2022). Cross-sectoral coordination in integrated watershed management. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 24(6), 733–748. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2022.2059357

Santoso, B., Rahman, T., & Karim, F. (2024). Urban inequality and access to clean water in Indonesian coastal cities. Journal of Urban Management, 13(1), 44–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jum.2024.01.005

Setyowati, A., Pramono, B., & Sari, D. (2022). Land conversion and seasonal flood risk in Makassar’s watershed. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 42, 101163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2022.101163

Sharma, P., Kumar, N., & Jain, V. (2020). Climate change impacts on tropical hydrological systems. Climatic Change, 163(3), 1235–1251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02809-6

Shiferaw, B., Liu, C., & Wong, S. (2025). Tropical ecohydrology and watershed sustainability: An emerging research frontier. Sustainability Science, 20(2), 355–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-024-01409-1

Silva, C., & Costa, L. (2024). Nutrient pollution from agricultural intensification in tropical regions. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 362, 108624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2024.108624

Singh, R., & Mehta, P. (2021). Satellite-based land use classification and hydrological modeling. Geocarto International, 36(21), 2356–2372. https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2020.1776082

Sun, Q., Li, Y., & Zhao, W. (2024). Global assessment of land use change and water quality deterioration. Science of the Total Environment, 898, 165232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165232

Utomo, T., Wijanarko, R., & Kurniawan, E. (2021). Urban land use change and surface water degradation in Indonesia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 940, 012009. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/940/1/012009

Wang, J., & Huang, L. (2023). Remote sensing integration for multi-layer spatial analysis in watershed systems. Remote Sensing, 15(14), 3571. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15143571

Wang, Q., & Silva, D. (2024). Anthropogenic influences on tropical river water quality. Water Research, 247, 120874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.120874

Wang, Y., Zhang, D., & Gao, S. (2023). Geospatial monitoring of watershed land change using advanced GIS techniques. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 198, 147–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2023.01.012

Wuryanta, D., Nugraha, F., & Puspita, S. (2023). Impact of vegetation loss on runoff coefficients in the Bengawan Solo watershed. Hydrological Research Letters, 17(2), 112–123. https://doi.org/10.3178/hrl.17.112

Yamada, T., & Saito, K. (2021). Socioeconomic drivers of land transformation in tropical Asia. World Development, 147, 105651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105651

Yuliana, E., Prasetya, W., & Nugroho, I. (2024). Data triangulation in environmental field research: Strengthening spatial reliability. Environmental Systems Research, 13(1), 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40068-024-00265-3

Zhang, X., Hu, J., & Feng, T. (2024). Integrated watershed management and adaptive policy frameworks. Sustainability, 16(8), 3312. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16083312

Published

2025-11-30