Simplified Methodology for Assessing River Carrying Capacity Based on Land-Use Types

Land conversions or land use changes also become the main cause of the decline in Citarum River conditions. The relationship between river sustainability and its watershed carrying capacity plays a vital role in protecting watersheds to implement sustainable water resources management. Previous studies on river assessment for watershed management have predominantly focused on specific hydrological and/or technical results, rather than considering the process of the development of carrying capacity methodology due to land-use types. Motivated by this fact, the objective of this study is to develop a simplified carrying capacity methodology due to land-use types for sustainable river management by selecting the Upper Citarum Watershed (a main part of Citarum Watershed) located in West Java Province, Indonesia as an example of a study area. The conceptual framework development for watershed carrying capacity due to land-use types was designed the step-by-step methodology standard regarding the sustainable river management. The methodology of this study also used AHP method consisting of screening and selecting attributes, transforming and developing sub-indices, assigning weights, and formulating a runoff cumulative (Ccum) to examine standards and criteria for carrying capacity classification due to the changes of land-use types. The analysis revealed a significant change in the proportions of the various land use types of the study area. The conclusion is it integrates the measures of selected important land-use types to create a single dimensionless number of runoff cumulative and its classification, and a modified approach to communicate information on river status to the public and related policy makers. To advance future studies, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive evaluation and monitoring systems by using GIS-based spatial and temporal analysis.