Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Utility Of Vulnerability Maps And Gis In Groundwater Management: A Case Study, Muhterem Demi̇roğlu, John Dowd

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Groundwater supplies are experiencing a critical shortage in arid and semiarid regions, as population growth, and hence demand, is not matched by the development of new water supplies. Groundwater is often the only water source in these areas, making the preservation of groundwater quality a critical issue. Powerful tools for groundwater protection are vulnerability maps, which can be used to identify protection zones. A number of factors influence aquifer vulnerability, including geology, geography, land use, and commercial and industrial development. These factors often display a complex spatial pattern easily addressed with GIS. Each factor is entered in the GIS as …