Abstract
Groundwater is the main source of water supply in Jordan. Due to lower precipitation rates in recent years, the surface water is increasingly limited. Research on groundwater vulnerability helps protect this main source of water supply and assists in the development of plans to confront the deterioration and contamination of aquifers from wastewater and agricultural activities in order to protect groundwater for future generations. The important factors to determine groundwater vulnerability are environmental conditions; hence the spatial conditions in arid to semi-arid areas must be taken into account when applying different models. The aquifer vulnerability has been assessed in Jordan by using the DRASTIC method; remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) data were used to derive and process data. The DRASTIC index was used with seven parameters to describe physical characteristics of the aquifers. It is concluded that about 34% of the area was considered to be of moderate vulnerability, but the share increased to 60% after modifying the index. While high vulnerability was at 25% of the total area, it decreased to 6.3% with the modified index; therefore, urgent pollution prevention measures should be taken for every kind of relevant activity within the whole basin.
Highlights
Like many other countries in the world, Jordan faces serious problems related to water shortages, which nega-How to cite this paper: Ibrahim, M. and Koch, B. (2015) Assessment and Mapping of Groundwater Vulnerability Using Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) Concentrations and Geographic Information System (GIS): A Case Study in Al-Mafraq, Jordan
The analysis was conducted by using the modified DRASTIC index in combination with GIS techniques and remote sensing, resulting in a significant relationship between SAR values of irrigation water and the extent to which sodium is absorbed by the soils [14]
Mapping modified of groundwater vulnerability can be improved to be more effective through standardization and calibration of the points values based on the outcomes of relationship that appear for each parameter in the DRASTIC, e.g. relationship of hydrological aquifers with quality of water
Summary
Like many other countries in the world, Jordan faces serious problems related to water shortages, which nega-How to cite this paper: Ibrahim, M. and Koch, B. (2015) Assessment and Mapping of Groundwater Vulnerability Using SAR Concentrations and GIS: A Case Study in Al-Mafraq, Jordan. Like many other countries in the world, Jordan faces serious problems related to water shortages, which nega-. How to cite this paper: Ibrahim, M. and Koch, B. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 7, 588-596. Jordan is considered to be one of the four poorest countries in terms of water resources. Water use in the country has already exceeded renewable freshwater resources by more than 20%, and after 2005, the Jordanian Ministry of Water started to think about using full freshwater; in the same time, it has not developed the means and search capabilities to find new water resources in the country. Increasing water demand on the existing resources combined with declining rainfall and increasing temperatures as a result of climatic changes causes the most serious problems
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