Vulnerability and Risk of Contamination of the Varaždin Aquifer System, NW Croatia
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Data Sources
2.3. Methods
2.3.1. Groundwater Vulnerability Methods
2.3.2. Sensitivity Analysis
2.3.3. Hazard Assessment
2.3.4. Risk Assessment
2.3.5. Validation of Groundwater Vulnerability and Risk Assessment
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Vulnerability Assessment
3.2. Sensitivity of the Vulnerability Models
3.3. Hazard Assessment
3.4. Risk Intensity Assessment
3.5. Validation of Groundwater Vulnerability and Risk Intensity Maps
4. Conclusions
- Similar groundwater vulnerability results are obtained using five models, with the high vulnerability class covering most of the study area.
- Both DRASTIC and SINTACS parameters are independent with only a few significant correlations at a 95% confidence level.
- The theoretical and effective parameter weights for DRASTIC- and SINTACS-based models are in relatively good agreement, with the depth to groundwater and net recharge the most effective parameters.
- Despite the generally high groundwater vulnerability, a moderate resource contamination risk prevails as a consequence of a dominantly low hazard index.
- The correlation between the vulnerability indices and mean nitrate concentrations in groundwater is weak for all used vulnerability models. The second highest correlation coefficient (0.34) is obtained for the GOD method, which includes the fewest model parameters.
- A significantly higher correlation coefficient (0.58) is obtained when the groundwater vulnerability index is replaced by the resource risk intensity index.
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Parameter | DRASTIC | P-DRASTIC | SINTACS-N | SINTACS-S |
---|---|---|---|---|
Depth to groundwater | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Net recharge | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
Aquifer media | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Soil media | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
Topography | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Vadose zone | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Hydraulic conductivity | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Hazard Index | Hazard Index Class | Hazard Level | Colour |
---|---|---|---|
0–20 | 1 | no or very low | dark green |
>20–40 | 2 | low | green |
>40–60 | 3 | moderate | light green |
>60–80 | 4 | elevated | yellow |
>80–100 | 5 | high | orange |
>100–120 | 6 | very high | red |
Vulnerability Index | Hazard Index | Risk Intensity Index | Risk Level | Colour |
---|---|---|---|---|
26–80 | 0–20 | 0–1600 | no or very low | dark green |
>80–105 | >20–40 | >1600–4200 | low | green |
>105–140 | >40–60 | >4200–8400 | moderate | light green |
>140–186 | >60–80 | >8400–14,880 | elevated | yellow |
>186–210 | >80–100 | >14,880–21,000 | high | orange |
>210–260 | >100–120 | >21,000–31,200 | very high | red |
Depth to Groundwater | Net Recharge | Aquifer Media | Soil Media | Topography | Vadose Zone | Hydraulic Conductivity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DRASTIC | |||||||
Min | 2.0 | 6.0 | 8.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
Max | 10.0 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
Mean | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 6.7 | 9.9 | 6.6 | 9.0 |
SD | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.6 |
CV (%) | 15.7 | 15.6 | 0.0 | 8.7 | 4.3 | 31.6 | 28.8 |
SINTACS | |||||||
Min | 2.8 | 6.6 | 8.0 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 7.0 |
Max | 10.0 | 9.3 | 8.0 | 6.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 9.4 |
Mean | 7.4 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 5.3 | 9.9 | 6.6 | 9.0 |
SD | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 0.8 |
CV (%) | 16.4 | 13.4 | 0.0 | 9.2 | 4.3 | 31.5 | 8.5 |
GOD | |||||||
Groundwater occurrence | Overlying lithology | Dept to groundwater | |||||
Min | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.6 | ||||
Max | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 | ||||
Mean | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.9 | ||||
SD | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | ||||
CV (%) | 40.1 | 14.8 | 8.7 |
Correlated Parameters | Correlation Coefficient, r | Significance Level, p |
---|---|---|
DRASTIC | ||
Impact of vadose zone and net recharge | 0.67 | <0.0001 |
Net recharge and hydraulic conductivity | 0.62 | <0.0001 |
Impact of vadose zone and hydraulic conductivity | 0.52 | <0.0001 |
Topography and hydraulic conductivity | 0.36 | <0.0001 |
Net recharge and topography | 0.27 | <0.0001 |
Topography and depth to water | 0.24 | <0.0001 |
SINTACS | ||
Impact of vadose zone and net recharge | 0.65 | <0.0001 |
Net recharge and hydraulic conductivity | 0.50 | <0.0001 |
Impact of vadose zone and hydraulic conductivity | 0.49 | <0.0001 |
Soil media and depth to water | 0.35 | <0.0001 |
Net recharge and topography | 0.27 | <0.0001 |
Topography and depth to water | 0.23 | <0.0001 |
Parameter | DRASTIC | P-DRASTIC | SINTACS-N | SINTACS-S | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Theoretical Weight (%) | Mean Effective Weight (%) | Theoretical Weight (%) | Mean Effective Weight (%) | Theoretical Weight (%) | Mean Effective Weight (%) | Theoretical Weight (%) | Mean Effective Weight (%) | |
Depth to groundwater | 21.7 | 22.9 | 19.2 | 20.1 | 19.2 | 18.9 | 19.2 | 19.0 |
Net recharge | 17.4 | 18.2 | 15.4 | 16.0 | 15.4 | 17.6 | 19.2 | 22.1 |
Aquifer media | 13.0 | 13.5 | 11.5 | 11.8 | 11.5 | 12.3 | 11.5 | 12.4 |
Soil media | 8.7 | 7.5 | 19.2 | 16.4 | 15.4 | 11.0 | 19.2 | 13.8 |
Topography | 4.3 | 5.6 | 11.5 | 14.6 | 7.7 | 10.1 | 7.7 | 10.2 |
Vadose zone | 21.7 | 17.8 | 15.4 | 12.6 | 19.2 | 16.4 | 15.4 | 13.3 |
Hydraulic conductivity | 13.0 | 14.5 | 7.7 | 8.6 | 11.5 | 13.7 | 7.7 | 9.2 |
Groundwater Vulnerability Model/Risk Intensity | DRASTIC | P-DRASTIC | SINTACS-N | SINTACS-S | GOD | Risk Intensity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Correlation coefficient, R | 0.33 | 0.38 | 0.22 | 0.32 | 0.34 | 0.58 |
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Larva, O.; Brkić, Ž.; Marković, T. Vulnerability and Risk of Contamination of the Varaždin Aquifer System, NW Croatia. Sustainability 2023, 15, 16502. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316502
Larva O, Brkić Ž, Marković T. Vulnerability and Risk of Contamination of the Varaždin Aquifer System, NW Croatia. Sustainability. 2023; 15(23):16502. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316502
Chicago/Turabian StyleLarva, Ozren, Željka Brkić, and Tamara Marković. 2023. "Vulnerability and Risk of Contamination of the Varaždin Aquifer System, NW Croatia" Sustainability 15, no. 23: 16502. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316502