Dynamic Groundwater Contamination Vulnerability Assessment Techniques: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Assuring the quantity and quality of groundwater resources is essential for the well-being of human and ecological health, society, and the economy. For the last few decades, groundwater vulnerability modeling techniques have become essential for groundwater protection and management. Groundwater contamination is highly dynamic due to its dependency on recharge, which is a function of time-dependent parameters such as precipitation and evapotranspiration. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the time-series analysis in the “approximation” process to model the dynamic vulnerability of groundwater contamination. This systematic literature review (SLR) aims to critically review the methods used to evaluate the spatiotemporal assessment of groundwater vulnerability. The PRISMA method was employed to search web platforms and refine the collected research articles by applying certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. Despite the enormous growth in this field in recent years, spatiotemporal variations in precipitation and evapotranspiration were not considered considerably. Groundwater contamination vulnerability assessment needs to integrate the multicriteria decision support tools for better analysis of the subsurface flow, residence time, and groundwater recharge. Holistic approaches need to be formulated to evaluate the groundwater contamination in changing climatic scenarios and uncertainties, which can provide knowledge and tools with which to prepare sustainable groundwater management strategies.

Enhanced Methods for Evaluating Aquifer Susceptibility: Incorporating Static and Dynamic Vulnerability Assessments

“…However, they fail to consider the dynamic changes affecting hydrogeological parameters that compile vulnerability assessment methods, such as climate variations and overexploitation of groundwater reserves, which in uence both recharge and the depth of the groundwater table. Various research studies have demonstrated the temporal and spatial variability of intrinsic vulnerability in aquifers (Banerjee et al, 2023;Es Saouini et al, 2014;Krogulec et al, 2019). The term "intrinsic" is speci cally attributed to the fundamental and permanent characteristics that de ne the nature and functioning of an object (aquifer).…”

“…Numerous studies have examined the components of parametric methods, such as the DRASTIC and SINTACS models, and found that the aquifer recharge and depth are dynamic parameters. At the same time, the other parameters are considered static and are not affected by changes or surface pressure (Banerjee et al, 2023;Bouchnan et al, 2014;Cervantes-Servin et al, 2023b;Krogulec et al, 2019).…”