GIS for Groundwater Resources and Contamination Risk Assessment

Abstract

AbstractNatural resources are gradually becoming insufficient, and the results of human actions are omnipresent. In such a case, the focus should be on how to reduce impacts and improve sustainability using the best available tools for environmental characterization, impact assessment, and plan development. A clear understanding of the process, how water is collected and stored, and an understanding of how runoff changes in mountainous areas is useful for developing water resource use and planning. Groundwater is mainly used for drinking and irrigation purpose. Pollution in groundwater can lead to unsafe drinking water, water supply loss, excessive cleaning cost, and increase in cost of other water supply sources and/or potential health risks. With the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) application, better and innovative methods can be developed to process the huge amount of data and information related to groundwater. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of GIS applications for groundwater resource assessment, exploration, groundwater contamination risk assessment, and protection planning. In this chapter, the relevant literature in different locations and in various ways has been collected to provide a comprehensive review. Conclusions are drawn based on identified gaps and on research prospectus in groundwater assessment of groundwater resources and pollution risk using GIS.KeywordsGISGroundwaterModelingContaminationWater quality