Quality management for groundwater by assessment of aquifer vulnerability to contamination in Erbil city

Abstract EN

Groundwater Protection begins with an assessment of the sensitivity of its environment.

This study attempts to create a groundwater vulnerability map for Erbil city, Groundwater quality management can be effectively carried out by mapping for groundwater vulnerability to contamination.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the vulnerability of the aquifer to pollution in Erbil city, and to discover the groundwater vulnerable zones to pollution in the aquifer of the study area and to provide spatial analysis of the parameters and conditions under which groundwater may become polluted by using DRASTIC method within GISienvironment.

According to the DRASTIC model index, the results show that in the South-eastern part of the studied area, highly vulnerability to pollution due to the aquifer media consists of gravel and sand, it is also found that the most parameter effects on the calculation is the soil media.

It found that when the soil is gravel, “the Impact of Vadose Zone” is composed of gravel and sand and “Hydraulic conductivity” is high.

Most of the studied areas are found to be classified within the moderate level of vulnerability to contamination.