Parametric method used for mapping the groundwater vulnerability to contamination

Abstract

Groundwater is a natural resource indispensable for life and for most economic activities. Due to its presentation in time and space, groundwater becomes vulnerable to hazardous phenomena of different origin, natural or anthropogenic, that can produce disturbances in some water systems or default situations. Parametric models can be used to model the groundwater vulnerability and with the help of Geographical Information System (GIS) we can make the results of a complicated parametric model more clearly through visual representation. To achieve the above objective, the empirical model known as “DRASTIC” developed in USA by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [1] as a way to produce a relative-risk scale of potential groundwater vulnerability to pollution that could be applied to a large area was adopted and tested with GIS to identify areas from Dobrogea Region (Romania) where the groundwater is more or less susceptible to pollution.