Peat Fire Impact on Water Quality and Organic Matter in Peat Soil

The impacts of peat fire on the water quality were investigated by comparing the water quality of the Sebangau River and the Canal Kalampangan. pH and DOC are important parameters related to the specific properties of water in Central Kalimantan. The pH value of the Sebangau River and the Canal water are about 4. The average concentration of DOC in the Sebangau River was about 43.8 mg/L, while that in the Canal was about 37.2 mg/L. The DOC concentration in the Canal was lower than that in the Sebangau River, it was supposed that peat soil around the Canal had been burnt, and therefore the supply of dissolved organic matters to the Canal decreased. In this chapter, it is also shown that DOC concentration of soil collected from burnt area was lower than that from unburnt area. It was found that the tap water in Palangka Raya contained high concentration of NH4-N and DOC, including humic substances. Polyaluminium chloride (PAC) with CaCO3 was one of the effective coagulants that could reduce humic substances contained in tap water in Palangka Raya, to more than 91 % removal. The assessment of the toxicity of humic acid using the trypan blue exclusion method is also discussed in this chapter. The peat fire also influenced the chemical characteristics of aquatic humic substances (fulvic acid and humic acid), especially in the H/C and O/C value from elemental analysis data, molecular weights, and 3DEEM fluorescence spectra. The effect of peat fire on the properties of soil organic matter was investigated, and it was clarified that the peat fire affected not only on surface soil but it reached into the subsurface soil until 30–50 cm depth.