A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1982

This study deals with the various aspects of water quality, such as existing river water quality, water quality parameters, pollution condition, corrosivity, assimilative capacity and maximum allowable BOD load of Musi River within a 26 km distance at Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. From this study it is obvious that the existing river water quality is very good with negligible degree of pollution as shown by the river pollution index of 101.2 - 107.2; previous pollution incidence was localized in nature. The existing BOD load of the river is less than 1% of its total assimilative capacity of 11,372.5 ton/day and 7,833.9 ton/day based on a minimum DO level of 4 mg/t and 5 mg/t respectively over the whole reach. However, a more thorough study is needed to allow maximum utilization ·of the river assimilative capacity to prevent its overuse. River water quality parameters are as follows : average k1 and k2 values of 0.117 day-1 and 0.282 day-1 (30°C) respectively, dispersion coefficient of 5.0 - 10.9 m2/s, photosynthetic oxygen production coefficient of 0.52 - 1.07 mg/t-day and oxygen absorption of 2.2 - 7.1 mg/t (29°C, 3 hours) . The BOD3/BODu ratio is 0.46 and corrosivity is over 11.7 or -2.2 on Ryznar Stability Index and Langelier Saturation Index respectively.