AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Volume 9 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.3233/AJW-2012-9_1_13
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Approaches to Groundwater Vulnerability to Pollution: A Literature Review

Jawed Iqbal1 A.K. Gorai1* Poonam Tirkey1 Gopal Pathak1
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1 Environmental Science and Engineering Group, BIT Mesra, Ranchi – 835215, India
AJWEP 2012, 9(1), 105–115; https://doi.org/10.3233/AJW-2012-9_1_13
Submitted: 10 October 2009 | Accepted: 30 May 2011 | Published: 1 January 2012
© 2012 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

It is not feasible and perhaps impossible to formulate an universal technique for predicting groundwater vulnerability, one that considers all of the ways in which contamination occurs or that is appropriate for all situations. The intended use of the vulnerability assessment process is the most obvious and important factor to consider in selecting a vulnerability assessment approach. The three classes (Overlay and Index Methods, Process based Simulation Model Methods and Statistical Methods) of methods for assessing groundwater vulnerability range in complexity from a subjective evaluation of available map data to the application of complex transport models are available. Each class has its own characteristic strengths and weaknesses that affect its suitability for particular application. This paper attempts to review all the major approaches developed worldwide for groundwater vulnerability assessment.

Keywords
Groundwater
vulnerability assessment
literature review
statistical method
overlay index
process based simulation
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing