TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing the inconsistency between groundwater vulnerability and groundwater quality
T2 - The case of Chapala Marsh, Mexico
AU - Leal, J. A.Ramos
AU - Medrano, C. Noyola
AU - Silva, F. O.Tapia
AU - García, J. T.Silva
AU - Gutiérrez, L. R.Reyes
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank CONACYT for the financial support given for this project. The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their much appreciated and constructive comments.
PY - 2012/5
Y1 - 2012/5
N2 - Aquifer systems present intrinsic properties such as vulnerability, which is identified as the potential risk of groundwater pollution by contaminants generated by human activity. When there are surface sources of pollution, usually there is a direct relationship between high vulnerability and decreased water quality. Nevertheless, this relationship is not observed in all aquifers and so the causative circumstances of inconsistencies between aquifer vulnerability and water quality have been investigated. This work addresses the vulnerability assessment of the Chapala Marsh area, Mexico, using SINTACS analysis. The Chapala Marsh aquifer is characterized by a granular structure and a fractured recharge zone; there are natural and anthropogenic sources of pollution. The results show discrepancies between the vulnerability indices and groundwater quality, as indicated by the existence of vulnerable areas with good water quality and vice versa. This is because the SINTACS method works well when contaminants have only vertical movement. For scenarios with lateral movement of contaminants, the method of geographic weighted regression (GWR) is used to model the influence of potential sources of contaminants on the water quality.
AB - Aquifer systems present intrinsic properties such as vulnerability, which is identified as the potential risk of groundwater pollution by contaminants generated by human activity. When there are surface sources of pollution, usually there is a direct relationship between high vulnerability and decreased water quality. Nevertheless, this relationship is not observed in all aquifers and so the causative circumstances of inconsistencies between aquifer vulnerability and water quality have been investigated. This work addresses the vulnerability assessment of the Chapala Marsh area, Mexico, using SINTACS analysis. The Chapala Marsh aquifer is characterized by a granular structure and a fractured recharge zone; there are natural and anthropogenic sources of pollution. The results show discrepancies between the vulnerability indices and groundwater quality, as indicated by the existence of vulnerable areas with good water quality and vice versa. This is because the SINTACS method works well when contaminants have only vertical movement. For scenarios with lateral movement of contaminants, the method of geographic weighted regression (GWR) is used to model the influence of potential sources of contaminants on the water quality.
KW - Granular aquifer
KW - Groundwater quality
KW - Mexico
KW - SINTACS
KW - Vulnerability mapping
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84859850115&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10040-011-0823-1
DO - 10.1007/s10040-011-0823-1
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1431-2174
VL - 20
SP - 591
EP - 603
JO - Hydrogeology Journal
JF - Hydrogeology Journal
IS - 3
ER -