J O U R N A L O F C O A S T A L S C I E N C E S

JOURNAL OF COASTAL SCIENCES

Journal homepage: www.jcsonline.co.nr

ISSN: 2348 6740 Volume 3 Issue No. 2 - 2016 Pages 8-17

Assessment and management of coastal hazards due to flooding,

erosion and saltwater intrusion in Karawang, West Java, Indonesia
Azis Kemal Fauzie1*
1Environmental Management Board (BPLH), Government of Karawang Regency, Jl. Lingkar Tanjungpura No. 1 Karawang, West Java, Indonesia

Centre
ABST forRGeotechnology,
ACT Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu 627 012, India ARTICLE INFO

Coastal hazards now become major problem especially for archipelago country like Indonesia. The Regency of Received
Karawang along the North-Coast of West Java Province faces the issues of coastal flooding, erosion and saltwater 22 June 2016
intrusion. About 13 thousand, 16 thousand and 15 thousand hectares of coastal productive areas below 15 km from Accepted
the shoreline were inundated during the 2007, 2008 and 2013 floods, respectively. Coastal erosion has made area lost 17 October 2016
about 14 ha/year and caused coastline retreat at average rates of 4 m/year. Total area loss during 27-year period has Available online
reached more than 400 ha and maximum retreat was found in the order of 400 m. Saltwater intrusion has 24 October 2016
contaminated the groundwater with salinity above 0.5 and 1.8 ppt at coastal area below 15 km and 7 km from the
shoreline, respectively. Coastal hazard management should be adopted to prevent more resulting damages to the
region by constructing hard protection measures, restoring wetland ecosystem and applying other required Keywords
approaches. Coastal hazard
Coastal management
Coastal flooding
Coastal erosion
2016 Journal of Coastal Sciences. All rights reserved North Coast
*Corresponding author, E-mail address: aziskemalfauzie@gmail.com West Java
Phone: +91 9620816030,

1. Introduction

History told that there are connections between natural
disasters and coastal environments. Therefore, people should always
keep in mind that not only highlands and ail.com volcanoes, low lying
regions like coastal areas are also prone to natural hazards, whether
in the form of floods, tropical cyclones or hurricanes, earthquakes
and tsunamis, or changing deltas, dunes and coastlines due to
erosion and sedimentation (Dyl 2009). People should also remember
that even nature and hazard are contradictive each other, but their
existences are inseparable. Both exist alternately at anytime. In one
time, nature shapes and recovers the environments, but then in other
time hazard will unexpectedly destroy them.
Coastal disaster like Hurricane Katrina in August 2005
(Petterson et al. 2006) and Hurricane Irene in August 2011 (Prasad
2012) along the U.S. south and east coast, respectively, had destroyed
lots of public infrastructures, caused many deaths and missing
persons, and billions USD cost of damage (Avila and Cangialosi
2011), hence regarded as top-costliest catastrophe in the nations
history (Blake et al. 2011). The Northeast and mid-Atlantic region is
also likely to have coastal flooding due to sea level rise and climate
change (Kirshen et al. 2007). Coastal flooding and riverbank erosion
occurred frequently almost four to eight times every year in coastal
riparian zones of Bangladesh, particularly during the last two
decades, and caused lots of economic loss for the villagers (Karim
2014). The flood erosion has eroded riverbank 8 km at certain points
annually (Alam 1990) and dislocated many villages and quarter
million of households (Islam 1995).
Coastal erosion hazard is not less dramatic than other hazards. It
is defined as the encroachment of land by the sea causing loss of
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beach volume over a long period of time by the impacts of many
factors like waves, tidal and littoral currents, weather, storm events
and sediment dynamics (Prasad and Kumar 2014). Recently, erosion
is regarded as one of important hazards due to it can displace public
infrastructure and disturb marine ecosystem. It has undermined the
road on the coastal side of Slapton beach in South Devon U.K. and
made that vital tourist corridor became impassable (Trudgill 2009).
In U.S., coastal erosion has also undermined waterfront houses,
offices and public facilities, and brought the Cape Hateras lighthouse
in North Carolina closer to the sea (Dunn et al. 2000). It was
suggested that effect of erosion on loss of houses in the U.S. east coast
will cost half billion USD each year (Landry 2011). Erosion also
caused land loss of islands in Sundarbans, India (Chatterjee 2015)
and retreat of coastline in Ghana about 1 m/year (Jonah et al. 2016)
and 600 m in two decades in Turkey (Kabdasli et al. 1996).
Saltwater intrusion also becomes major problem in coastal
areas, for example in Shandong Province of China (Cheng and Chen
2001; Shanzhong et al. 2007), Cape Flats of South Africa (Aza-Gnandji
2013), Wadi Gizan of southwest Saudi Arabia (Al-Bassam and
Hussein 2008), Edremit Bay of Turkey (Irtem 2005), Everglades
watershed of Florida U.S. (Kaplan et al. 2010; Jiang 2014) and coastal
regions of Bangladesh (Azam and Sarker 2012). Saltwater intrusion
is defined as the migration of saltwater into freshwater aquifers
under the influence of groundwater development (Freeze and Cherry
1979). The rate of intrusion will increase steadily when
overexploitation of groundwater occurs continuously (Chen et al.
1997). The impacts of saline water intrusion ranged from problems
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in accessing safe drinking water to soil salinization and land
degradation required for agricultural farming purposes.
Coastal hazards nowadays become global issue due to about a
billion of the worlds population live within 100 kilometres of the
coastline (Kurt et al. 2010). In Indonesia, about 30,000 km long
shoreline has already damaged (Pusdata 2008). It is highly terrifying
because as an archipelago country, almost 60 percent of Indonesian
population dwell coastal area and 80 percent of industrial zone also
take place near the shoreline (Bakosurtanal 2003). As for example,
centre of population, urbanization and industries in Java Island are
located in the north-side regions facing Java Sea. One of the major
natural hazards occurred in Indonesia was the tsunami on December
26, 2004 that had devastated coastal areas in Aceh Province and
caused large number of casualties including deaths, missing and
displaced persons (Doocy et al. 2007; Daly and Hor 2013).
From many centuries, the North-Coast area of West Java
Province was popularly known as an agricultural basis of Indonesia
and acknowledged by its important, long and dense historic national
roadways. But after few decades, the area had been threatened by
acute coastal damages. Many roadways infrastructure, public
settlements, agricultural land, near shore fisheries and mangrove
habitats stretched over the coastline had the effects of flooding,
gradual inundation, coastal erosion, ecosystem disruption and
saltwater intrusion. The hazards were identified after a decade, but
the resulting factors may be appeared since several decades before. It
was postulated that coastal retreat and sedimentation have occurred
in this area and made the shoreline relatively unstable. Some area
had deficit sediments and some other got surplus or extra sediments.
To prevent continual spread and occurrence of the hazards,
many aspects should be identified including the level of hazard, cost
calculation of damages, and mapping of hazard-prone areas, so it can
be basis for the city planners in formulating policy planning and
programme to cope with the problems. Therefore, the study is aimed
to identify and assess the degree, rate and coverage of coastal
damages in Karawang Regency as a case study, including the hazard
of coastal flood, erosion and accretion, and saltwater intrusion as
well as to provide options for coastal hazard management that can be
taken as immediate action by the local, provincial or even national
government.
2. Study area
The study takes place in the Regency of Karawang, which is
located in the north coast of West Java Province, Republic of
Indonesia. Geographically, it lies from E 10702 to E 10740 and
from S 556 to S 634. Java Sea faces on the north side of the region
with 73.65 km long shoreline. Total area of the region is 1,753.27
km2 or 175,327 hectares and number of population is 2,250,120 (in
the year 2014), so the population density is around 1,283 per km2
(BPS, 2015). There are totally 30 sub-regencies and 309 villages in
Karawang, but only 9 sub-regencies and 100 villages are located by
the coast and are dwelled by about half million people or 24.7% of
the total regency population. Nineteen villages are precisely located
along the shoreline where most of the villagers live and work as
fishermen in either marine capture or nearshore fishery.
Morphologically, Karawang has flat land areas with a variation
between 0-5 m above sea level. Only few areas, which are undulating
hilly areas, have altitude reaching up to 1200 m above sea level.
Karawang has average air temperature around 27 oC, average air
pressure about 0.01 milibar, 66 percent illumination and 80 percent
humidity. Seaward monsoon usually occurs in January, while in June
the southeast monsoon usually comes. The wind velocity ranged
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from 30 to 35 km/hours and the duration of wind blow varied from 5
to 7 hours per day. Located in Indonesian tropical rain forest,
Karawang has high amount of rainfall varied from 1100 to 3200 mm.
Rainfall in the specific area is mostly influenced by season, altitude
and cycling of airflow. Therefore, the volume of rainfall varied greatly
by month. The average of rainfall in 2014 reached 2046 mm with
average of rainy days is approximately 100 days per year. In 2013,
January has the highest rainfall of 758 mm and October has the
lowest rainfall of 5 mm (BPS 2015).
3. Materials and Methods
Data collection used in this study varies from different
techniques such as compilation of reports, field data sampling and
geographical information system (GIS) analysis. Data on
infrastructure and area damages due to coastal flooding were
collected from field reports, particularly from local government
reports in Karawang Regency. The impacts of coastal erosion were
analyzed using GIS application. Satellite imageries and topographic
maps were used as the main source data in this study. Satellite
imageries were downloaded from U.S. Geological Survey website,
while topographic maps were obtained from the National Survey and
Mapping Coordination Board. The satellite images were captured by
Landsat-5 TM on August 20, 1988 and Landsat-7 ETM+ on July 6,
2015 on Path/Row 122/064 at the coordinates Lat: 05 47 10 S and
Lon: 107 12 59 E. The resolutions of the Landsat-5 and Landsat-7
images are 7781x6951 pixels and 8081x7001 pixels, respectively.
These images were then processed and compiled to estimate coastal
erosion and accretion area and rates during this 27-year period.
The software employed for analysis of coastal erosion was
MapInfo Professional version 11.0 developed by Pitney Bowes
Software Inc. It was started by registering the satellite images into
the 2000 topographic maps. Registration of satellite images in this
work was kept at the errors of maximum 1 to 2 pixels by selecting
more number of registration points to avoid further miscalculation in
the georeferencing of the coastline. After completing image
registration, digitizing procedures were taken to draw the 1988- and
2015-coastlines from the satellite images as well as to draw the
administrative boundaries from the topographic maps. Overlaying all
these maps has resulted in distinct figures that can identify the
shoreline changes. Loss or surplus of area from 1988 to 2015 can be
calculated directly in the software by selecting the region between
the 1988- and the 2015-shorelines. Total area loss or area addition
divided by length of shoreline exposed to erosion or accretion has
resulted in average coastline retreat or stride for 27 years. Width-
based erosion or accretion rate were then estimated by dividing the
width of coastline retreat or stride by this time period, while area-
based erosion or accretion rate were calculated by directly dividing
the area loss or addition by the time period.
Assessment of saltwater intrusion was obtained after collecting
groundwater samples from public bore-wells in different areas along
the coastal region. Five points were selected as sampling locations in
Karawang area, i.e. in Batujaya (SA-01), Pakisjaya (SA-03), Cilebar
(SA-04), Cikampek (SA-05) and Jatisari (SA-06) sub-regency. The
geographical locations of the sampling points were noted using GPS
for further map analysis. Salinity of all groundwater samples were
analyzed in the laboratory and the results were provided in parts per
thousand (ppt) units, which converted to conductivity in mS/cm
using online Salinity Conversion Calculator provided in the website:
www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/SalinityConversion.php,
and then converted to Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) in mg/L using
online TDS Calculator provided in the website:
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www.chemiasoft.com/chemd/TDS. Conversion from conductivity their incomes as well as their working capital to continue their
(S/cm) to TDS (mg/L or ppm) can also be calculated by the business on the next growing season.
following equations: Sub- Agricul- Near House School Religious
regency ture field shore building building building
For conductivity between 0 717.5 S/cm and TDS between 0 (ha) fishery (unit) (unit) (unit)
372.76 mg/L (ppm): (ha)
Pakisjaya 1,072 340 1,987
TDS = 8.2336489905880910-3 + 0.500944688449521 S + Batujaya 1,252 3,125 20
4.994890124491910-5 S2 3.35124001610-8 S3 (Eq. 1) Tirtajaya 1,500 410 543 (Eq. 1) 3
Cibuaya 750 272 3 7
For conductivity between 717.5 111,900 S/cm and TDS between Pedes 1,741 85
372.76 74,551 mg/L (ppm): Cilebar 3,661
Tempuran 2,193 75 667
TDS = 32.0598990943585 + 0.564100864596031 S + Cilamaya 1,755
1.57382300937410-6 S2 5.88672910-12 S3 (Eq. 2) Kulon (Eq. 2)
Cilamaya 1,618
Wetan
where,
Total 15,542 825 6,679 23 10
TDS = Total Dissolved Solid (mg/L or ppm)
Table 1. Public area and facilities affected by inundation due to 2008
S = Conductivity of solution at 25 oC (S/cm)
coastal flooding
S2 = Conductivity raised to the power 2
S3 = Conductivity raised to the power 3 Recently, report in January 2013 found that flood has inundated
50 villages distributed among 14 sub-regencies (Table 2 and Fig. 1).
The geographical locations of the groundwater sampling points Almost 30 thousand hectare areas were affected and most of them
and their salt content data were then plotted in the Karawang digital are located on the riverbank of Citarum, the biggest river in West
map using MapInfo software and extrapolated to all sub-regency area Java Province. Five sub-regencies (i.e. Pakisjaya, Batujaya, Tirtajaya,
based on the seaward distances of the selected sampling points. Iso- Cibuaya and Pedes) and twenty villages of the flooded area take place
saline maps describing the spatial distribution of groundwater in coastal region. Even the whole area of Pakisjaya, the north-most
salinity in the region were generated using application provided by sub-regency in Karawang, got the impact due to the area lies
the software. precisely in the mouth of Citarum River as well as by the coastline.
The most notable figure is that even though the Regency of Karawang
4. Results and discussion covers area till the distance up to 57 km from the shoreline, but
nearly half of the flooded region was located only at a range below 15
4.1. Coastal flooding km.
Floods in coastal area may occur due to overflow of rivers or Sub-regency Total Number of Total area Flooded
ocean tides. Floods in Karawang area are mostly because of river number of flooded (ha) area (ha)
overflow sent from upstream. Catchment area lies from upper course villages villages
to lower course was unable to hold more water due to high degree of Pakisjaya 8 8 6,448 6,448
deforestation, logging and land pavement. Therefore, when rainfall Batujaya 10 2 9,189 1,771
has its highest magnitude especially in Indonesia occurred in early Tirtajaya 11 1 9,225 962
year catchment area in upper course was unable to play their role Cibuaya 11 3 8,718 3,280
causing huge amount of excess water flows downstream by the river. Pedes 12 6 6,084 2,842
Coastal areas located in the low-lying regions get the worst effect of Telagasari 14 3 4,572 950
water accumulation causing the so-called coastal flooding. Tirtamulya 10 3 3,506 827
Flood in almost all Indonesian cities usually occurs in the peak Kotabaru 9 2 3,045 901
period of rainy season from January to February almost every year. Cikampek 10 1 4,760 227
In early 2008 rain and flooding intensity was very high. Flood has Karawang 8 2 2,977 567
submerged 18,462 ha agriculture fields in Karawang, where 15,542 Timur
of them were on the coastal area at the distance below 15 km from Karawang 7 6 3,368 2,253
Barat
the shoreline. Level of the water on the rice fields varied from 20 to
Telukjambe 9 6 4,013 2,936
60 cm. Flood has affected 8,637 households by inundating 8,717 Timur
houses, where 6,679 of them are in coastal area. Level of the water Telukjambe 10 3 7,336 1,116
on the house buildings reached about 20 to 120 cm from the ground. Barat
Twenty-three schools and ten religious infrastructures (mosques) Pangkalan 8 4 9,437 5,844
have also been inundated with the level of 30 to 50 cm during that Total 137 50 82,678 30,924
period (Table 1). Table 2. Area and number of villages affected by 2013 flood
One year before on February 2007, flood has destroyed 13,193
ha nearshore fisheries with estimated loss more than IDR 21 billion.
About 4,760 ha of inundated fishery area was recorded in 4.2. Coastal erosion and accretion
Cemarajaya village of Cibuaya sub-regency only. The fisheries were Coastal erosion occurs when beach volume was reduced and
managed by 150 members and employed about 1,500 workers. scrapped by waves and rip currents. Coastal villagers get the adverse
When the flood came, the fishponds were about to harvest. As result, effect of the erosion. Erosion had taken many areas of their littoral
many cultivated fishes and shrimps escaped and the owners had lost lands such as aquaculture and agriculture lands, and damaged their
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sedimentation also disturbs sailors activity by blocking their ways

when they need to land their boats to auction room to sell their
captured fishes. Coastal erosion is always followed by accretion.
Sediments from eroded beaches were carried away by seawater
according to wind and wave direction causing coastal accretion to
the other beaches. Cibuaya beach gets the highest effects of coastal
erosion, while Cilamaya Wetan beach obtains more on
sedimentation. Cilebar beach has high degree on both erosion and
accretion.
Erosion and accretion occur predominantly in Karawang coastal
area since few decades. The area found in between the 1988
coastline (green line) and 2015 coastline (red line) are the indication
of their existences (Fig. 3). Green line stretched over the red line in
seaward direction indicated erosion, whereas inverse pattern
indicated accretion. Erosion is mainly found in Pakisjaya, Tirtajaya,
Cibuaya, and parts of Cilebar and Tempuran sub-regency. The largest
area of erosion occurs in Cibuaya regency, particularly in Sedari
village, and maximum coastline retreat was found in the order of 400
m. On the other hand, accretion occurs in Cilamaya Wetan, Batujaya,
and parts of Cilebar and Tempuran sub-regency. The largest
accretion area was found in Cilamaya Wetan sub-regency,
particularly in Muara and Muarabaru village, where maximum
coastline stride of 800 m occurred causing what people there called
as emerging land or tanah timbul in their language. Pedes and
Cilamaya Kulon beaches are relatively stable, though small land loss
Fig. 1. Spatial distribution of 2013 flood impacts. Numbers 1 to 14 represent
and land addition are also found there in some area.
sub-regencies as mentioned in Table 2
Total area loss in Karawang due to erosion during this 27-year
period is 404 ha, but it also gets additional land as an effect of
infrastructures like housings and roads. Beach lands consist of sandy
accretion about 874 ha (Table 3). So, in total, Karawang has surplus
or loamy sand soils like in Karawang are usually more sensitive to
sediment as much as 470 ha, mainly in Cilamaya Wetan beach. Total
erosion. Therefore, almost all stretch of Karawang beaches face high
erosion rate in area basis for all coastal zones is almost 15 ha/yr,
threats of coastal erosion, particularly in nineteen most-outer
while total area-based accretion rate is 32 ha/yr. Average erosion
villages spread over along the coastal sub-regencies. High impacts of
rate in width basis (or coastline retreat) for the whole Karawang
erosion occur mainly in Cibuaya and Cilebar beach. A significant
coasts is 4 m/yr (or 124 m in 27 years), and average width-based
number of public habitation, shops, restaurants and religious
accretion rate is 8 m/yr (or 238 m in 27 years). Erosion and
infrastructures in both beaches were destroyed by erosion attacks
accretion rates in m/yr units are calculated perpendicular to
(Fig. 2). Asphaltic roadways stretch over Cibuaya coast since few
shoreline in landward and seaward direction respectively. Even
years ago have lost their shape. Many buildings were abandoned due
though erosion rates measured are still lower about half of the
to the distances were too much closer to the sea. Coastal retreats
accretion rates, but due to its adverse effects to environment and
now become major threats to Karawang regency.

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 2. View of coastal erosion impacts on (a) Cibuaya, (b) Cilebar, and (c) Cilamaya Kulon beach

Accretion or sedimentation occurs when there is addition in society, more attention to coastal erosion should be taken to
coastal land due to sediment transport carried by longshore currents. anticipate its long-term damage.
Similar to erosion, accretion also affects coastline instability. It
creates adverse effect to nearshore inhabitants by causing 4.3. Saltwater intrusion
sedimentation on the lower course, an entryway where fishermen Groundwater in Karawang coastal area is mostly shallow and
usually carry their boats to the ocean to capture fishes. This estuary saline. It is shallow because it can be easily extracted below 50 meter
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in depth by either high- or low-pressure bore-wells. However, the
actual condition is saline because of saltwater intrusion making the
extracted water from domestic wells contain high amount of sodium
and calcium salts, thus considered as not advisable for drinking
water purposes. Almost all area in the regency faces the problem of
saltwater intrusion but in different concentrations. The higher
concentration of salt in groundwater was mainly found at the points
below 7 km from the shoreline, whereas points with the distance
above 30 km from the coast are considered to have saline-free
groundwater (Fig. 4).
surface water in jerry cans delivered by tankers from upper course
area. Sub-regencies at middle area (Jayakerta, Rengasdengklok,
Kutawaluya, Rawamerta, Telagasari, Lemahabang, Banyusari, Jatisari,
Tirtamulya, Kotabaru, Cikampek, Purwasari, Klari, Majalaya,
Karawang Timur and Karawang Barat) have adequate content of
salts in their groundwater with salinity ranged between 0.1 and 1.8
ppt. A portion of Ciampel and Telukjambe Timur area has free of salt
content, whereas three sub-regencies, i.e. Telukjambe Barat,
Pangkalan and Tegalwaru, were considered to be absolutely free
from saltwater intrusion.

Fig. 3. Shoreline changes due to erosion and accretion. Insets are maps of Indonesia (bottom), West Java Province (left) and Karawang Regency (top-right)

Parameters Erosion Accretion

Area loss or surplus after 27 years 404.21 hectares 874.63 hectares
Length of shoreline exposed 32.43 kilometres 36.68 kilometres
Average coastline retreat or stride after 27 years 124.67 metres 238.44 metres
Area-based rate 14.97 hectares per year 32.39 hectares per year
Width-based rate 4.62 metres per year 8.83 metres per year
Table 3. Area and rates of erosion and accretion calculated from 1988 to 2015

All coastal sub-regencies (Pakisjaya, Batujaya, Tirtajaya, Cibuaya,
Pedes, Cilebar, Tempuran, Cilamaya Kulon and Cilamaya Wetan)
were highly affected by saltwater intrusion at the salinity above 0.5
ppt or TDS above 541 mg/L (Table 4), and it exceeds the permissible
limit for safe drinking water according to the Regulation of Health
Minister of the Republic of Indonesia No. 492/2010 that requires
drinking water to have TDS value not more than 500 mg/L.
Nearshore areas at the distance below 7 km from the shoreline have
higher salinity above 1.8 ppt or TDS above 1925 mg/L. Most of the
villagers in those areas consume packed mineral water or processed
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4.4. Coastal hazard maps
Appelquist and Halsns (2015) has developed Coastal Hazard
Wheel system to classify and assess any possible environmental
hazards occur in coastal area as well as to provide options for its
conservation and/or restoration management. According to the
system, Karawang coasts fall to classification of coastal environments
PL-14 and PL-16 due to the coasts have sedimentary plain, protected
or low wave exposure, micro-tidal condition, intermittent mangrove
ecosystem, and no tropical cyclone activity. The only difference is PL-
14 environment has balanced/deficit sediment, while PL-16 has
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Karawang (Fig. 6) clearly explain that coastal areas with balanced

and deficit sediment due to erosion (PL-14) have higher hazard
levels as compared to areas with surplus sediment taken from
accretion (PL-16). The hazard levels of PL-14 environment were
higher in ecosystem disruption and gradual inundation (hazard class
No. 4 or very high) as well as in erosion and flooding (hazard class
No. 3 or high) as compared to PL-16 environment that has hazard
class No. 2 or moderate level in all hazard types. Coastal hazard map
for saltwater intrusion was not prepared in this paper due to all the
environments, either PL-14 or PL-16, have similar moderate level
along all stretch of the coast.

Coastal Environment Coastal Environment

PL-14 PL-16

Ecosystem disruption 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Gradual inundation 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Saltwater intrusion 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Erosion 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Flooding 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Fig. 5. Matrix of Inherent Hazard Level for Karawang coastal environments,
where hazard level 1 = low, 2 = moderate, 3 = high, and 4 = very high

Fig. 4. Iso-saline maps of western part (top) and eastern part (bottom) of
Karawang coastal area

surplus. PL-14 environment lies on erosion-prone and stable areas,

whereas PL-16 comprises all accretion-affected areas. These
classified coastal environments have different level of hazards in
terms of flooding, erosion, ecosystem disruption, gradual inundation
and saltwater intrusion (Fig. 5).
The inherent hazard level suggested by Appelquist and Halsns Fig. 6 Coastal Hazard Maps for Karawang showing four types of hazard
(2015) has scaled number from 1 to 4 indicated as low, moderate,
high and very high level consecutively. Coastal Hazard Maps for
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Sub-regencies Distance from Salinity (ppt) Conductivity (S/cm) TDS (mg/L)

shoreline (km)
Pakisjaya 0 9 > 0.5 > 1013 > 541
Batujaya 0 15 > 0.5 > 1013 > 541
Tirtajaya 0 15 > 0.6 > 1208 > 652
Cibuaya 0 10 > 1.0 > 1968 > 1084
Pedes 0 12 > 0.8 > 1591 > 869
Cilebar 0 9 > 1.0 > 1968 > 1084
Tempuran 0 12 > 0.8 > 1591 > 869
Cilamaya Kulon 0 11 > 1.3 > 2526 > 1403
Cilamaya Wetan 0 9 > 1.5 > 2893 > 1613
Lemahabang 7 20 0.7 1.8 1400 3437 761 1925
Banyusari 8 14 0.8 1.6 1591 3075 869 1717
Kutawaluya 8 17 0.6 1.3 1208 2526 652 1403
Rawamerta 8 21 0.4 1.3 817 2526 430 1403
Telagasari 9 18 0.7 1.4 1400 2710 761 1508
Jayakerta 9 17 0.7 1.2 1400 2341 761 1297
Rengasdengklok 14 20 0.4 0.9 817 1780 430 977
Jatisari 12 22 0.3 1.4 617 2710 320 1508
Tirtamulya 13 22 0.8 1.2 1591 2341 869 1297
Kotabaru 17 29 0.3 1.0 617 1968 320 1084
Cikampek 23 31 0.3 0.8 617 1591 320 869
Purwasari 19 28 0.5 0.8 1013 1591 541 869
Klari 19 31 0.2 0.7 414 1400 214 761
Majalaya 16 20 0.5 0.8 1013 1591 541 869
Karawang Timur 18 24 0.3 0.6 617 1208 320 652
Karawang Barat 19 28 0.1 0.4 205 817 104 430
Ciampel 28 42 < 0.4 < 817 < 430
Telukjambe Timur 24 34 < 0.3 < 617 < 320
Telukjambe Barat 28 38 0 0 0
Pangkalan 33 54 0 0 0
Tegalwaru 37 59 0 0 0
Table 4. Groundwater quality in all Karawang sub-regencies. Bold letters indicate values exceed permissible limit for safe drinking water

4.5. Coastal hazard management options
Along with hazard assessment, hazard management options are
also provided for all types of coastal environments (Fig. 7). The
management options can be selected for mitigation and
rehabilitation purposes of one or more hazards, and can also be used
in combination scheme. However, the selection depends on many
technical factors suited the field situation including budget costs,
simplicity and durability of the measures, flexibility over period of
time, availability of material, labour and equipment, and the related
socioeconomic context and geographical location of the project. If the
local government has more available budget, they can choose more
durable and stronger measure rather than stick on the simple and
standard-minimum project.
The hazard management strategies have three main options to
be taken i.e. hard protection measures, soft protection measures and
accommodation approaches. Each has own strengths and
weaknesses. The hard protection measures popularly well known in
coastal technology include the construction of breakwaters, groins,
jetties, revetments, sea walls, dikes and storm surge barriers or
closure dams. The common techniques in soft protection measures
comprise beach nourishment, dune construction/rehabilitation and
cliff stabilization. The general types of accommodation approaches
consist of wetland restoration, flood warning systems, flood proofing
and coastal zoning. In addition, there are many types of other coast-
14
related management techniques such as groundwater management,
fluvial sediment management (both mentioned in the matrix),
ecosystem-based management, and complete retreat of human
intervention from the shoreline.
According to the matrix, all coastal environments in Karawang
need to build dikes as standard minimum of hard protection measure
to prevent coastal flooding, gradual inundation and saltwater
intrusion. Dikes are usually built for flood defence rather than for
erosion protection, especially floods or land inundation due to
overflow of excess water from ocean when high tide occurs. Dikes
are generally made of clay and constructed parallel to the shoreline
between mean tide level and highest astronomical tide (Masselink
and Hughes 2003). Dikes can also be combined with harder erosion
protection structures such as revetments if wave attacks and degree
of coastal damage were high like in Karawang coasts. Cost of dikes
construction depends on local labour and material costs, physical
properties of the structure, and other local parameters. The example
cost in Vietnam ranges from EUR 0.75 to EUR 1.2 million/km for
every one metre of dike height in 2009 prices. Maintenance costs are
estimated at a range around EUR 0.03 million/km/year (Hillen et al.
2010).
Wetland restoration should be taken as accommodation
approach to prevent all types of coastal hazards in Karawang, while
for dealing with coastal flooding Karawang needs to apply flood
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warning systems and flood proofing. Wetland restoration can be
carried out by transplanting the saplings or seedlings of indigenous
plants of the area such as mangroves or other plants as well as by
elevating the affected areas using additional soil or sand to reshape
and rebuild the ecosystem. Hard wood trees can prevent floods
because their roots can help to retain the sediment to hold water at
longer time and consume it for their photosynthetic metabolism
process so less excess water will be discharged. Example cost for the
mangrove restoration project in Vietnam is calculated about EUR
30/ha of new-planted mangrove areas in 2009 prices, including
planting, capital and recurrent costs, and subsequent thinning (Tri et
al. 1998).
impermeable to the flood at some extent of height (Linham and
Nicholls 2010).
Coastal zoning is an effective and efficient technique to manage
different uses of coastal area and to prevent the hazard of ecosystem
disruption. The approach highly depends on the coastal physical
conditions and is affected by local wisdom of the people in the area. A
particular nearshore area can be divided into different zones with
different activities, such as allowed entry zone (for economic
development), allowed-with-permission entry zone (for tourism and
education) and forbidden zone (for conservation only). This division
is highly useful to protect fragile marine ecosystems in the area as
well as to create additional source of income for local public and
government.

Coastal Environment Coastal Environment

PL-14 PL-16

inundation

inundation
disruption

disruption
Ecosystem

Ecosystem
Saltwater

Saltwater
intrusion

intrusion

Flooding
Flooding
Gradual

Gradual
Erosion

Erosion
Hazard management options
Breakwaters

Groins
Hard protection

Jetties

Revetments

Sea walls

Dikes

Storm surge barriers and closure dams

Beach nourishment
Soft pro-
tection

Dune construction/stabilization

Cliff stabilization

Wetland restoration
Accommodation

Flood warning system

Flood proofing

Coastal zoning

Groundwater management

Fluvial sediment management

Fig. 7. Matrix of hazard management options for Karawang coasts

Flood warning systems are managed to provide an early
detection and preparation of any possibility of flood events in the
area by allowing the public and relevant local government or non-
government institutions to take appropriate actions on time to
reduce larger impacts of people and their property due to coastal
flooding. Flood proofing is designed to reduce the impacts of coastal
flooding on physical structure and can be made in wet or dry
approaches. Wet approaches are designed by allowing floodwater to
easily enter and exit a structure constructed by using flood-tolerant
materials or by lowering and elevating specific structural parts. Dry
approaches are built by making the structures totally waterproof or
15
Groundwater management used for preventing saltwater
intrusion can be applied by reducing the overexploitation of
groundwater, especially for industrial and business purposes near
coastal area. Any medium and high scale industries or corporations
that consume large amount of freshwater should be avoided to use
free with groundwater. They should be limited by applying highly
strict permit and high tariff of groundwater extraction so that
shallow freshwater can only be used by domestic purposes. Local or
provincial government should strictly recommend existing and
newborn private companies to shift the use of groundwater to
surface water for their purposes. Rainwater harvesting and
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

groundwater recharge by using water receptacles, infiltration wells
and biopores should be more actuated to the public. These efforts
would also be beneficial to prevent flooding and gradual inundation Al-Bassam, A.M., Hussein, M.T., 2008. Combined geo-electrical and hydro-
because if huge amount of rainwater were absorbed to the ground,
the discharge of excess water to the stream will be less and the
hazards will then be avoided. Appelquist, L.R., Halsns, K., 2015. The Coastal Hazard Wheel system for
5. Conclusions
When some people said that disaster is merely an act of God or
fate, there are so many findings mentioned that humans directly
or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally also alter the
environmental changes that create those hazards. In order to learn
from history, city planners must recognize the dynamism of coastal
environments as well as understand the fact that disasters usually
occur repetitively so they can prepare for them and mitigate
accordingly. For example flood that occurs continuously every year
especially when rain intensity is high. In the year of 2007 and 2008,
flood has inundated several areas of agriculture, fisheries and human
settlements in Karawang region. The government should prepare
early warning systems to anticipate flood so the impacts and
casualties will be less or even avoided. Flood proofing can also be
applied, but the better action was to minimize run-off water to the
stream by reducing land pavements and conserving or rehabilitating
the forest and other plantation areas from upper to lower course.
Coastal erosion hazard is also important to be immediately
handled. Although it is a natural process that occurs in most of
coastal environments, but it is usually aggravated by human-induced
factors operating on different scales like utilization and conversion of
coastal resources. It is scientifically found that average coastline
retreat in Karawang has reached about 4 m/year, and maximum
retreat was found in Cibuaya beach in the order of 400 m after 27
years. Restoration of mangrove forests should be continuously
activated as it is the best ecological approach to prevent coastal
erosion. Hard protection measures can also be taken such as by
constructing dikes along the coasts combined with other stronger
measure like revetments. Saltwater intrusion affects most of coastal
regions in Karawang. It affects more at the areas below 7 km from
the shoreline. The groundwater is not safe anymore for drinking
water purposes for public in the nearshore area. Therefore,
groundwater management efforts should be adopted by managing
the extraction of groundwater more strictly and actuating
groundwater recharge and rainwater harvesting by either public or
private sectors.
Acknowledgements
Author is thankful to the Public Relation Section of Government
of Karawang Regency and the Regional Disaster Mitigation Board for
the helps in providing flood reports of Karawang. A part of this work
was carried out on a project initiated by Environment Management
Board (BPLH), formerly known as Environment, Mining and Energy
Office (DLHPE), Government of Karawang Regency. Author would
like to acknowledge the Regional Environment Control Board
(BPLHD) of Government of West Java Province, and the Research and
Development Centre on Geology and Oceanography for the
assistance in preparing basic maps regarding the research in coastal
area of West Java, Indonesia.
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