IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v13y2023i5p1082-d1150418.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of Intrinsic Vulnerability Using DRASTIC vs. Actual Nitrate Pollution: The Case of a Detrital Aquifer Impacted by Intensive Agriculture in Cádiz (Southern Spain)

Author

Listed:
  • Sérgio Mateus Chilaule

    (Water Research Institute, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Maputo 1100, Mozambique
    Department of Environmental and Planning, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal)

  • Mercedes Vélez-Nicolás

    (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cadiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain)

  • Verónica Ruiz-Ortiz

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Civil Engineering, University of Cadiz, 11202 Algeciras, Spain)

  • Ángel Sánchez-Bellón

    (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cadiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain)

  • Santiago García-López

    (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cadiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain)

Abstract

The degradation of groundwater quality due to nitrate is a widespread issue in heavily agricultural areas and a major concern for public health. Improving knowledge of the intrinsic vulnerability of aquifers with respect to the actual contamination is crucial for adequate water management and for complying with the European directives aimed at protecting this valuable resource. In this study, we applied the well-established DRASTIC method to assess the intrinsic vulnerability of the Benalup aquifer, a detrital aquifer located in the southern Iberian Peninsula that supports important agricultural activity. The model was compared with in situ measurements of this ion, evidencing a lack of agreement between the most vulnerable zones and those that display higher nitrate concentrations. This fact should not be interpreted as an inadequacy in the vulnerability model, but as a result of several factors such as (i) the marked heterogeneity in land uses and the spatial variability in contaminant sources, (ii) the construction and exploitation characteristics of the water boreholes, (iii) the sampling procedure and depth to the water table, and (iv) transport and degradation processes within the porous medium. All these aspects can lead to discrepancies between the actual distribution of contamination and vulnerability models such as DRASTIC. All these factors should be carefully considered in the design of a sampling network in order to achieve a representative picture indicating the extent of contamination and the overall chemical quality of the system.

Suggested Citation

  • Sérgio Mateus Chilaule & Mercedes Vélez-Nicolás & Verónica Ruiz-Ortiz & Ángel Sánchez-Bellón & Santiago García-López, 2023. "Assessment of Intrinsic Vulnerability Using DRASTIC vs. Actual Nitrate Pollution: The Case of a Detrital Aquifer Impacted by Intensive Agriculture in Cádiz (Southern Spain)," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:5:p:1082-:d:1150418
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/5/1082/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/5/1082/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. H. Assaf & M. Saadeh, 2009. "Geostatistical Assessment of Groundwater Nitrate Contamination with Reflection on DRASTIC Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of the Upper Litani Basin, Lebanon," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(4), pages 775-796, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ching-Ping Liang & Cheng-Shin Jang & Cheng-Wei Liang & Jui-Sheng Chen, 2016. "Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment of the Pingtung Plain in Southern Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Mohammad Kamali & Rouzbeh Nazari & Alireza Faridhosseini & Hossein Ansari & Saeid Eslamian, 2015. "The Determination of Reference Evapotranspiration for Spatial Distribution Mapping Using Geostatistics," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(11), pages 3929-3940, September.
    3. Aminreza Neshat & Biswajeet Pradhan, 2015. "Risk assessment of groundwater pollution with a new methodological framework: application of Dempster–Shafer theory and GIS," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 78(3), pages 1565-1585, September.
    4. Lazhar Belkhiri & Tahoora Narany, 2015. "Using Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Geostatistical Techniques and Structural Equation Modeling to Identify Spatial Variability of Groundwater Quality," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(6), pages 2073-2089, April.
    5. Baalousha, Husam, 2010. "Assessment of a groundwater quality monitoring network using vulnerability mapping and geostatistics: A case study from Heretaunga Plains, New Zealand," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 240-246, February.
    6. Lior Netzer & Noam Weisbrod & Daniel Kurtzman & Ahmed Nasser & Ellen Graber & Daniel Ronen, 2011. "Observations on Vertical Variability in Groundwater Quality: Implications for Aquifer Management," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(5), pages 1315-1324, March.
    7. Sina Sadeghfam & Yousef Hassanzadeh & Ata Allah Nadiri & Mahdi Zarghami, 2016. "Localization of Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment Using Catastrophe Theory," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(13), pages 4585-4601, October.
    8. Adam Khalifa Mohamed & Dan Liu & Kai Song & Mohamed A. A. Mohamed & Elsiddig Aldaw & Basheer A. Elubid, 2019. "Hydrochemical Analysis and Fuzzy Logic Method for Evaluation of Groundwater Quality in the North Chengdu Plain, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Nesma A. Arafa & Zenhom El-Said Salem & Mahmoud A. Ghorab & Shokry A. Soliman & Abdelaziz L. Abdeldayem & Yasser M. Moustafa & Hosni H. Ghazala, 2022. "Evaluation of Groundwater Sensitivity to Pollution Using GIS-Based Modified DRASTIC-LU Model for Sustainable Development in the Nile Delta Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    10. Mohamed Alfy & Aref Lashin & Nassir Al-Arifi & Abdulaziz Al-Bassam, 2015. "Groundwater Characteristics and Pollution Assessment Using Integrated Hydrochemical Investigations GIS and Multivariate Geostatistical Techniques in Arid Areas," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(15), pages 5593-5612, December.
    11. Aminreza Neshat & Biswajeet Pradhan, 2015. "An integrated DRASTIC model using frequency ratio and two new hybrid methods for groundwater vulnerability assessment," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 76(1), pages 543-563, March.
    12. K. Brindha & L. Elango, 2012. "Impact of Tanning Industries on Groundwater Quality near a Metropolitan City in India," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(6), pages 1747-1761, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:5:p:1082-:d:1150418. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.