An Environmental Development Study: The Effect of Vegetation to Reduce Runoff

Abstract

Water absorption on land is influenced by several factors, namely, soil conditions and vegetation of land cover. The denser the condition of the soil surface, the infiltration rate will be smaller, and runoff will increase. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of plant roots and grass as an alternative to reduce inundation or runoff due to rain. Research on embankment soil samples in the laboratory was carried out using mini elephant grass and the roots of red shoots. Through testing of the Rainfall Simulator, the results of the tests found that the runoff without cover reached 25456.79 ml, while runoff with tree cover was 19665.10 ml. As if the tree root material can reduce 22.75% of the inundation/runoff that occurs in soil samples. Whereas in soil samples with grass cover can reduce as much as 19.35%. From this study, it was concluded that the roots of red shoots used in testing could be an alternative to land cover vegetation to minimize surface runoff.