Quantification and visualization of groundwater contamination prevention regionalization based on analytic hierarchy process method (AHP) in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, South China

Abstract

The groundwater contamination assessment and prevention regionalization are an important part of groundwater investigation, which is of great significance to groundwater environmental management and contamination control. Although the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GHM Greater Bay Area) has faced significant groundwater contamination since 2020, there's been no investigation into its vulnerability zonation. In this paper, groundwater in a typical area of south China was taken as the research object. We analyzed groundwater contamination risk by considering both the groundwater vulnerability and the load from contamination sources. Using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, we superposed the groundwater risk, function value and contamination status, and realized the quantification and visualization of groundwater contamination prevention regionalization. Based on the DRASTIC model, the zones of low, moderate, high, and very high vulnerability are respectively 14.2 %, 24.28 %, 37.67 %, and 20.45 % of the study area. Results show that the groundwater vulnerability grade in the area is III-IV, which means it is easy to be polluted. The functional value of groundwater in the south-central part of the region is relatively high. Most of the areas with high prevention and control levels are located in plain areas and the Piedmont plain area with an area of 460 km2. The secondary control levels (key protection area) are mainly located in the middle, southwest, and northeast of the plain, with an area of 6944 square kilometers. Consequently, the ideas and contamination prevention zone maps might provide a scientific foundation for long-term planning and management and groundwater conservation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and peripheral zones.