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Groundwater vulnerability assessment in shallow aquifer of Kathmandu Valley using GIS-based DRASTIC model

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

In this paper, groundwater aquifer vulnerability map has been developed by incorporating the major geological and hydro-geological factors that affect and control the groundwater contamination using GIS based DRASTIC model. This work demonstrates the potential of GIS to derive a map by overlying various spatially referenced digital data layers that portrays cumulative aquifer sensitivity ratings across the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, providing a relative indication of groundwater vulnerability to contamination. In fact, the groundwater is the major natural resources in Kathmandu for drinking purpose. The decline in groundwater levels due to the over exploitation and thus extracted water from shallow aquifer has been contaminated by the infiltration of pollutants from polluted river and land surface is continuous and serious. As the demand for water for human and industrial use has escalated and at the same time, the engineering and environmental costs are much higher for new water supplies than maintaining the existing sources already in use. Management of groundwater source and protecting its quality is therefore essential to increase efficient use of existing water supplies. Aquifer vulnerability maps developed in this study are valuable tools for environmental planning and predictive groundwater management. Further, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to evaluate the influence of single parameters on aquifer vulnerability assessment such that some subjectivity can be reduced to some extent and then new weights have been computed for each DRASTIC parameters.

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Acknowledgments

The first author gratefully acknowledges the Osaka Sangyo University for its support during the completion of this work. This study was supported by Japanese Government (MONBUKAGAKUSHO:MEXT) scholarship to the first author. Constructive suggestions and comments on the manuscript from the reviewer(s) and editor(s) are very much appreciated.

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  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Sangyo University, 3-1-1 Nakagaito Daito, Osaka, 574-8530, Japan

    Dhundi Raj Pathak, Akira Hiratsuka, Isao Awata & Luonan Chen

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  1. Dhundi Raj Pathak
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  2. Akira Hiratsuka
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  3. Isao Awata
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  4. Luonan Chen
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Correspondence to Dhundi Raj Pathak.

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Pathak, D.R., Hiratsuka, A., Awata, I. et al. Groundwater vulnerability assessment in shallow aquifer of Kathmandu Valley using GIS-based DRASTIC model. Environ Geol 57, 1569–1578 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1432-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1432-8

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