Since the need to protect ground water from pollution was recognized, researchers have made progress in understanding the vulnerability of ground water to contamination. Yet, there are substantial uncertainties in the vulnerability assessment methods now available. With a wealth of detailed information and practical advice, this volume will help decision-makers derive the most benefit from available assessment techniques. It offers: Three laws of ground water vulnerability. Six case studies of vulnerability assessment. Guidance for selecting vulnerability assessments and using the results. Reviews of the strengths and limitations of assessment methods. Information on available data bases, primarily at the federal level. This book will be indispensable to policymakers and resource managers, environmental professionals, researchers, faculty, and students involved in ground water issues, as well as investigators developing new assessment methods.

This volume offers detailed comparisons and validations of different methods of assessing groundwater vulnerability (DRASTIC, GOD, PI, RTt, AVI, SINTACS, COP). It contains new aspects of vulnerability assessment for the evaluation of coastal aquifer vulnerability and aquifer vulnerability to methane gas leakage from shale gas wells. The book also contains the results of studies on intrinsic and specific vulnerability assessment (migration of antibiotics and nitrate, groundwatersurface water interaction), with examples of the different national approaches to groundwater vulnerability mapping in Poland, Ireland, Italy and elsewhere. There are 15 chapters derived from two IAH conferences held in Ustron ́, Poland in 2015 and 2018. The book is valuable for those interested in groundwater vulnerability, in risk assessment, and in environmental issues. It is aimed at land use planners, water managers, the environmental industry, regional and local environmental protection councils and students studying hydrogeology and environmental sciences.

This volume presents current issues surrounding groundwater pollution risk assessment and the application of vulnerability and risk assessment maps for the effective protection and management of aquifers. New and improved approaches to intrinsic and specific vulnerability assessment are described, some coupled with geophysical and hydrological surveys and hydrodynamic and transport modelling. Widespread use is made of GIS format.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) disaster that occurred in Ukraine on April 26, 1986, was one of the most devastating in human history. Using this as a case study, the AGU monograph Groundwater Vulnerability: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster is devoted to the problem of groundwater vulnerability, where the results of long-term field and modeling investigations of radionuclide transport in soil and groundwater, within the Ukrainian part of the Dnieper River basin (Kyiv region of Ukraine), are discussed. The authors provide a comprehensive review of existing literature on the assessment of groundwater vulnerability and then describe an improved methodology, which is developed based on integration of the methods of hydrogeological zonation and modeling of anomalously fast migration of radioactive contaminants from the land surface toward groundwater. This volume also includes the evaluation of the effect of preferential and episodic flow on transport of radionuclides toward the aquifers and risk assessment of groundwater vulnerability, which can further assist future researchers in developing remediation technologies for improving drinking water quality. Further, this volume sheds light on the consequences of groundwater contamination from nuclear disasters and assists with assessing the risks associated with contamination and developing effective remediation technologies. Volume highlights include discussions of the following: Assessment of groundwater vulnerability to contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Novel analytical results of the 25-year investigations of groundwater contamination caused by Chernobyl-born radionuclides The wealth of data on different modes of radioactive transport in the atmosphere, water, and soils, and along the food chains The hydrogeological and physico-chemical processes and factors in groundwater contaminated zones The applicability of commonly used methods of the evaluation of groundwater vulnerability A unique method of fluid dynamics that involves an anomalously fast migration of contaminants through zones of preferential flow from the land surface toward groundwater Building confidence in the assessment of migration pathways of radionuclides in the biosphere Assessment and prediction of the consequences of the nuclear accident, which can shed light on protection from global nuclear accidents Analogue information for different nuclear waste disposal and environmental projects around the world

This book shows the effectiveness of DRASTIC model in a geographical setting for validation of vulnerable zones and presents the optimization of parameters for the development of precise maps highlighting several zones with varied contamination. Impact of vadose zone has also been assessed by considering every sub-surface layer. Exclusive title covering effectiveness of DRASTIC model for groundwater vulnerability assessment Reviews of the strengths and limitations of assessment methods Presents multi-criteria evaluation of hydro-geological and anthropogenic factors Discusses integration with geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) Includes application of groundwater governance framework with a case study study of a geographical setting

The primary groundwater management issue in many countries today is pollution. This may derive from a point source, perhaps a leaking solvent store at a factory, or it may be diffuse, such as the threat posed by the use of agricultural fertilisers and pesticides. The key to understanding the transport of a pollutant from the ground surface or near surface into an aquifer is an understanding of recharge. In turn, this allows the vulnerability of aquifers to pollution to be classified and appropriate land zones to be defined. Land zonation of different classes of aquifer vulnerability is a valuable tool for management and planning. In this volume the recent developments within the interlinked areas of groundwater pollution, aquifer recharge and vulnerability are set against the current groundwater protection policies of the UK amd Republic Ireland.