Integrated vulnerability assessment of surface and groundwater resources by combining two indices DRASTIC and WRASTIC

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc student, Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran

3 Assistant Professor, Water Research Institute, Ministry of Energy Water Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Today, human activities are one of the most important challenges in issues related to the quality of water resources, which is currently considered one of the management threats in the exploitation sector. This issue will require the identification and evaluation of water resources from different perspectives, of which the vulnerability of water resources is one. This study evaluates the vulnerability of water resources by combining two DRASTIC vulnerability indices in the aquifer sector and WRASTIC vulnerability index in the upland sector of Astana-Kuchsefahan region. In this study, after assessing the vulnerability with the relevant indicators, two methods of entropy and hierarchical analysis were used for scaling based on maximizing the correlation with nitrate concentration. The results showed that the most importance in both indices based on recalibrated weights include industrial use in the WRASTIC index and underground water depth in the DRASTIC index. The analysis of the calibration results showed that the correlation of nitrate with the DRASTIC vulnerability index using the AHP method was 0.61 and with the WRASTIC index was 0.58 using the Shannon entropy method. Also, the measurement results showed that the WRASTIC index ranges from 17 to 46 and the DRASTIC index ranges from 119 to 180. Based on the consolidated results in the western and eastern parts of the highlands, the level of vulnerability using the WRASTIC index is lower and there is a higher vulnerability in the western part of the aquifer compared to the eastern part.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Integrated vulnerability assessment of surface and groundwater resources by combining two indices DRASTIC and WRASTIC

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Today, human activities are one of the most important challenges in issues related to the quality of water resources, which is currently considered one of the management threats in the exploitation sector. This issue will require the identification and evaluation of water resources from different perspectives, of which is the vulnerability of water resources is one. The concept of vulnerability shows the interaction of water sources and pollutants and the potential of polluting sources with regard to the inherent potential of pollution.

Objective:

Vulnerability is a term used to represent the natural ground and surface characteristics that describe the ease with which groundwater and surface may be contaminated by human activities. This study evaluates the vulnerability of water resources by combining DRASTIC vulnerability indices in the aquifer sector and the WRASTIC vulnerability index in the upland sector of the Astana-Kuchsefahan region. Different methods have been introduced to evaluate the vulnerability of alluvial aquifers of which the overlay method and index weight rating are among the most popular ones.

Methodology:

The DRASTIC vulnerability index proposed by Aller is one of the most important methods in determining vulnerability of alluvial aquifers and different studies are conducted based on it. WRASTIC index was provided as seven informational layers and the index number for each sub-basin was calculated by weighting, ranking, and integrating the layers. These two indicators have been emphasized in expressing the concept of vulnerability in the highlands and aquifers, that after calculating these two indicators, the state of vulnerability in a study area is determined.In this analysis, two methods of entropy and hierarchical analysis were used to balance two indicators based on maximizing the correlation with nitrate concentration.Examining the results showed that the most important in both indices based on recalibrated weights include industrial use in the WRASTIC index and underground water depth in the DRASTIC index.

Result:

The results showed that in the western and eastern parts of the highlands, the level of vulnerability using the WRASTIC index is lower, and in the western part of the aquifer, there is a higher vulnerability compared to the eastern part. The results of this study indicate that in the Astana-Kuchsefahan aquifer, which is a coastal aquifer with low groundwater depth and high nutrition, the groundwater depth parameter is the most important in the DRASTIC index and plays an important role in the transfer and creation of pollution.In the WRASTIC index, the industrial use that can produce a high volume of pollution is of very important.The most importance in both indices was evaluated based on the rescaled weights, which shows the industrial use has the highest weight in the WRASTIC index with a weight of 5 and underground water depth with a weight of 5.5.Also, the slope in the DRASTIC vulnerability index with a weight of 0.5 and the basin area in the WRASTIC index with a weight of 0.7 have the lowest weight.

Conclusion:

The obtained results can be fully evaluated according to the purpose of this study and two DRASTIC indices were calculated in the northern part of the area (aquifer) and WRASTIC index in the southern part and the heights of the area and finally by combining these two indices, the vulnerability of the entire study area was calculated.

References

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Iranian Journal of Soil and Water Research
Volume 54, Issue 11
January 2024
Pages 1715-1732

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