Chromium in Benoa Bay, Bali - Indonesia

The chromium (Cr) pollution in Bali gained public attention because the textile and screen-printing industry was reportedly dumping their waste into the river. Benoa Bay is the estuary of six rivers in Bali and is thought to be contaminated by Cr. In this research, we investigated the presence of Cr in surface water, sediment and plankton (as a base trophic level) in Benoa Bay, Bali. Thirty stations were used to investigate Cr in Benoa Bay. The results showed that at almost all stations, surface waters of Benoa Bay were not contaminated by Cr, meanwhile Cr was detected in plankton and sediment. This research found that the range of Cr concentrations was sediment > plankton > water. The Bioaccumulation Factor (BCF) between plankton-water was much higher than plankton-sediment.