Water table evaluation post the construction of canal blocks on peatland in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Creating canal network is the first step to do agricultural practice in wetlands that aims to make the wetland dry. The existence of canal network affects the hydrological function of peat ecosystem in West Kalimantan which leads to drought and peatland fires during dry season. Canal network on peatlands causes the previously stagnant water to flow out easily through the canal. Therefore, a repressive effort is required to maintain water table in peatland. A countermeasure that has been applied to restore peat is by constructing canal blocks on the established canals. The objective of this study was to assess and evaluate changes in water table in peatlands after the construction of a canal block in Wajok Hilir Village, Mempawah Regency, West Kalimantan. Based on the water table evaluation result on peatland with and without blocked canal, it is identified that peatland surrounding blocked canal had smaller water table fluctuation than the peatland surrounding unblocked canal during 1 tidal period. This research concludes that the construction of canal block helps retain water longer in peatland so that water table can be maintained in short term and is expected to restore hydrological function of peatland in the long term.