Protection of groundwater intended for human consumption: a proposed methodology for defining safeguard zones

Abstract

Carbonate aquifers constitute a water reserve of essential importance for human supply. For this, it is necessary to establish suitable protection measures in order to achieve the good status of groundwater bodies intended for human supply according to the requirements of the Water Framework Directive. The objective of this paper is to present a methodology to define safeguard zones for the protection of carbonate groundwater bodies intended for human consumption. To do this, firstly the risk of groundwater contamination is evaluated through a combination of characterising pressures and the evaluation of the intrinsic vulnerability to contamination. Secondly, the existing water abstraction points are identified and their zones of contribution are delineated in order to establish priorities when defining protective measures in the region. Finally, the existing wellhead protection areas and those defined according to the proposed methodology must be integrated into the delineated safeguard zones. The results obtained in a carbonate groundwater body in southern Spain are consistent with the existing quality data and they show the percentage of land that must be protected to preserve the quality of water intended for human consumption, thus facilitating their future integration into adequate land use planning tools.

Applications of Hydro-Chemical and Isotopic Tools to Improve Definitions of Groundwater Catchment Zones in a Karstic Aquifer: A Case Study

“…Groundwater protection zones (GPZs method) were applied to catchments intended for human consumption in the Sierra de Cañete in the province of Malaga, Spain [1,2]. The objective was to use hydro-chemical and isotopic data to support other techniques applied to define zones of contribution to catchments.…”

Vulnerability and protection aspects of some Dinaric karst aquifers: a synthesis

“…Andreo et al 2009;Dörfliger and Plagnes 2009;Jiménez-Madrid et al 2011;Jeannin et al 2013). In some European countries, for example Ireland and Switzerland, the concept of groundwater vulnerability mapping has successfully been introduced into national legislation and used for protection zoning.…”

Land use changes and groundwater quality in Florida

“…In a similar case, Quinlan (1983) discusses rapid and extensive distribution of contamination within the karstic aquifer of the Sinkhole Plain in Kentucky. In addition to a great deal of research on karst groundwater contamination, many studies focused on groundwater protection and management of karst aquifers (Boyer and Pasquarell 1999;Plagnes and Bakalowicz 2001;Boyer 2005;Jimenez-Madrid et al 2012;Eftimi and Zojer 2015;Vallejos et al 2015).…”