Evaluation of a GIS-Based Integrated Vulnerability Risk Assessment for the Mancha Oriental System (SE Spain)

It is widely recognized that groundwater-vulnerability maps are a useful tool for making decisions on designating pollution-vulnerable areas, in addition to being a requirement of European Directive 91/676/EEC. This study addressed the vulnerability of the Mancha Oriental System (MOS) to groundwater contamination with an integrated Generic and Agricultural DRASTIC model approach. In the MOS, groundwater is the sole water resource for a total population of about 275,000 inhabitants and for 1,000 km2 of irrigated crops. DRASTIC vulnerability maps have been drawn up for two different years (1975 and 2002) in which the potentiometric surface has dropped dramatically (80 m in some areas) due to the considerable expansion of irrigated croplands. The quality of available resources has also deteriorated due to the agricultural practices and the discharge of wastewater effluents. Vulnerability maps are used to test the data on nitrate, sulphate, and chloride contents in groundwater in the Central and El Salobral-Los Llanos hydrogeologic domains of the MOS for 2002. Regardless of the method applied, the dramatic alteration in land use leads to a change in the DRASTIC index and vulnerability to groundwater contamination decreases for the study period. Vulnerability in the MOS increases in areas where the irrigation return flow is notable. The lack of a statistical correspondence between the DRASTIC index and the spatial distribution of nitrate, chloride, and sulphate contents and the distribution of the pollution load suggest that this method does not accurately assess the risk of the MOS to groundwater pollution.

[1]  A. E. Greenberg,et al.  Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater : supplement to the sixteenth edition , 1988 .

[2]  H. Baalousha.  Vulnerability assessment for the Gaza Strip, Palestine using DRASTIC , 2006 .

[3]  A. Jamrah,et al.  Assessment of groundwater vulnerability in the coastal region of Oman using DRASTIC index method in GIS environment , 2008, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[4]  S. Foster.  Groundwater recharge and pollution vulnerability of British aquifers: a critical overview , 1998, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[5]  S. Castaño,et al.  Nitrate in the Water-Supply Wells in the Mancha Oriental Hydrogeological System (SE Spain) , 2009 .

[6]  Paul F Hudak,et al.  Spatial Patterns of Nitrate, Chloride, Sulfate, and Fluoride Concentrations in the Woodbine Aquifer of North-Central Texas , 2003, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[7]  Rosela Pérez Ceballos,et al.  Vulnerabilidad del agua subterránea a la contaminación de nitratos en el estado de Yucatán , 2004 .

[8]  F. Nachtergaele.  Soil taxonomy—a basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting soil surveys: Second edition, by Soil Survey Staff, 1999, USDA–NRCS, Agriculture Handbook number 436, Hardbound , 2001 .

[9]  J. Hem.  Study and Interpretation of the Chemical Characteristics of Natural Water , 1989 .

[10]  José María Tarjuelo Martín-Benito.  El riego por aspersión y su tecnología , 1995 .

[11]  A. Melloul,et al.  Groundwater vulnerability assessment using a composite model combining DRASTIC with extensive agricultural land use in Israel's Sharon region , 1998 .

[12]  J. Hamerlinck,et al.  Determination of nonpoint-source pollution using GIS and numerical models , 1996 .

[13]  Alfonso Calera,et al.  Monitoring irrigation water use by combining Irrigation Advisory Service, and remotely sensed data with a geographic information system , 2003 .

[14]  Y. Zarhloule,et al.  Groundwater vulnerability and risk mapping of the Angad transboundary aquifer using DRASTIC index method in GIS environment , 2010 .

[15]  John E. McCray,et al.  Development and Application of a Regional-Scale Pesticide Transport and Groundwater Vulnerability Model , 2005 .

[16]  T. Al-Zabet,et al.  Evaluation of aquifer vulnerability to contamination potential using the DRASTIC method , 2002 .

[17]  B. Andreo,et al.  A comparative study of four schemes for groundwater vulnerability mapping in a diffuse flow carbonate aquifer under Mediterranean climatic conditions , 2005 .

[18]  J. Arnold,et al.  An Aquifer Vulnerability Assessment of the Paluxy Aquifer, Central Texas, USA, Using GIS and a Modified DRASTIC Approach , 2000, Environmental management.

[19]  Rida Al-Adamat,et al.  Groundwater vulnerability and risk mapping for the Basaltic aquifer of the Azraq basin of Jordan using GIS, Remote sensing and DRASTIC , 2003 .

[20]  N. Lambrakis,et al.  Development and testing of three hybrid methods for the assessment of aquifer vulnerability to nitrates, based on the drastic model, an example from NE Korinthia, Greece , 2007 .

[21]  Luís Ribeiro,et al.  Evaluation of an intrinsic and a specific vulnerability assessment method in comparison with groundwater salinisation and nitrate contamination levels in two agricultural regions in the south of Portugal , 2006 .

[22]  Hamed Assaf,et al.  Geostatistical Assessment of Groundwater Nitrate Contamination with Reflection on DRASTIC Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of the Upper Litani Basin, Lebanon , 2009 .

[23]  S. Korom.  Natural denitrification in the saturated zone: a review , 1992 .

[24]  Tetsuya Hiyama,et al.  A GIS-based DRASTIC model for assessing aquifer vulnerability in Kakamigahara Heights, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. , 2005, The Science of the total environment.

[25]  X. Wen,et al.  A GIS-based DRASTIC model for assessing shallow groundwater vulnerability in the Zhangye Basin, northwestern China , 2009 .

[26]  M. Almasri,et al.  Assessment of intrinsic vulnerability to contamination for Gaza coastal aquifer, Palestine. , 2008, Journal of environmental management.

[27]  Akihiko Kondoh,et al.  Groundwater vulnerability assessment and evaluation of human activity impact (HAI) within the Dead Sea groundwater basin, Jordan , 2008 .

[28]  M G Rupert,et al.  Calibration of the DRASTIC Ground Water Vulnerability Mapping Method , 2001, Ground water.

[29]  H. Schmidt,et al.  Using isotope fractionation of nitrate-nitrogen and nitrate-oxygen for evaluation of microbial denitrification in a sandy aquifer , 1990 .

[30]  Alfonso Calera,et al.  A procedure for obtaining green plant cover: Relation to NDVI in a case study for barley , 2001 .

[31]  Santiago Castaño,et al.  Hydrostratigraphic framework and hydrogeological behaviour of the Mancha Oriental System (SE Spain) , 2009 .

[32]  R. Panda,et al.  Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment, Risk Mapping, and Nitrate Evaluation in a Small Agricultural Watershed: Using the DRASTIC Model and GIS , 2008 .

[33]  L. N. Plummer,et al.  Geochemistry and the understanding of ground-water systems , 2005 .

[34]  Erhan Şener,et al.  Assessment of aquifer vulnerability based on GIS and DRASTIC methods: a case study of the Senirkent-Uluborlu Basin (Isparta, Turkey) , 2009 .

[35]  Transportes y Medio Ambiente Spain. Ministerio de Obras Públicas.  Atlas nacional de España , 1995 .

[36]  A. Sahuquillo,et al.  Modeling aquifer–river interactions under the influence of groundwater abstraction in the Mancha Oriental System (SE Spain) , 2011 .

[37]  Wayne L. Myers,et al.  A GIS-based approach to evaluating regional groundwater pollution potential with DRASTIC , 1990 .

[38]  J. Nuckols,et al.  Using GIS to investigate septic system sites and nitrate pollution potential , 1999 .

[39]  M. Chitsazan,et al.  A GIS-based DRASTIC Model for Assessing Aquifer Vulnerability in Kherran Plain, Khuzestan, Iran , 2009 .

[40]  S. Ettazarini.  Groundwater pollution risk mapping for the Eocene aquifer of the Oum Er-Rabia basin, Morocco , 2006 .

[41]  J. Vrba,et al.  Guidebook on Mapping Groundwater Vulnerability , 1994 .