Wisnu Prayogo, Prayatni Soewondo, Gerry Andhikaputra, Sarra Rahmadani, Laili Fitria, Zhilli Izzadati Khairuni, I. Made Wahyu Widyarsana, Muammar Qadafi, Novi Fitria, Januar Parlaungan Siregar, Aristya Ardhitama
Urban rivers in rapidly growing tropical cities face persistent pollution pressures and limited wastewater infrastructure, demanding scalable in-stream restoration approaches. This study presents the first long-duration, field-scale deployment of mineral wool (MW) in a tropical monsoon river system, evaluating pollutant attenuation and seasonal treatment dynamics in the Cikapayang River, Bandung, Indonesia. Two MW configurations were installed in cascade channels without pumping, chemical inputs, or hydraulic control, and monitored across wet and dry seasons. Water quality was assessed using 11 physical and chemical parameters and interpreted through four Water Quality Indices (PI, STORET, CCME-WQI, NSF-WQI) to benchmark regulatory and international assessment frameworks. MW achieved mean pollutant removal of 43.51 %, improving river status from heavily polluted to moderate/lightly polluted. Dry-season performance intensified due to longer hydraulic retention and mature biofilms, yielding up to 61.52 % COD and 50.28 % TN removal, while wet-season turbulence reduced residence time but retained stable performance. Microstructural imaging confirmed a transition from mineral-mediated filtration and cation exchange to biofilm-driven nitrification–denitrification. Among WQIs, CCME-WQI exhibited the highest sensitivity, improving from “very poor” to “poor–fair (44.24)”, while PI offered more optimistic classifications. Findings demonstrate MW as an effective, low-energy, circular-material solution for decentralized urban river treatment under monsoon hydrology. This work bridges the gap between controlled experiments and real-river implementation, providing performance and assessment benchmarks for scalable nature-based interventions in developing regions. Future studies should address media longevity, regeneration, and hydrodynamic optimization. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.
Department of Building Engineering Education, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan, 20221, Indonesia; Department of Environmental Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, 40132, Indonesia; Department of Environmental Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, 320, Taiwan; Department of Civil Engineering, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan, 20221, Indonesia; Department of Environmental Engineering, Universitas Tanjungpura, Pontianak, 78124, Indonesia; Department of Architectural Engineering, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan, 20221, Indonesia; Research Center for Environmental and Clean Technologies, National Research and Innovation Agency, Tangerang Selatan, 15314, Indonesia; Faculty of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering Technology, University Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, Pahang, 26600, Malaysia; Climatology Station of Yogyakarta, Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (BMKG), 55284, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
