Groundwater Contamination Risk Assessment Based on Groundwater Vulnerability and Pollution Loading: A Case Study of Typical Karst Areas in China

Yanna Xiong, Jingchao Liu, Wenchao Yuan, Weijiang Liu (), Shaobing Ma, Zhiyu Wang, Tongtong Li, Yanwei Wang and Jin Wu ()
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Yanna Xiong: Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China
Jingchao Liu: College of Water Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100091, China
Wenchao Yuan: Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China
Weijiang Liu: Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China
Shaobing Ma: Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China
Zhiyu Wang: School of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing 100083, China
Tongtong Li: Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China
Yanwei Wang: Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China
Jin Wu: Faculty of Architecture, Civil and Transportation Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: Groundwater contamination risk assessment is an important basis to support the protection of the groundwater ecological environment. In this research, the groundwater contamination risk in typical karst areas in China was evaluated by PLEIK model (P: protective cover; L: land use; E: epikarst development; I: infiltration conditions; K: karst development) and classification and discrimination methods were used to assess groundwater vulnerability and pollution source load; the water quality index method was used to assess the status of groundwater contamination in the research area. The results show that groundwater vulnerability values in the research area range from 3.04 to 7.79, and most areas have low groundwater vulnerability. Groundwater pollution loading indexes, in the region of the pollution sources, gathered numerical up-water quality status evaluation that shows that most of the regional groundwater quality in the research area has good groundwater at present. The groundwater contamination risk assessment results show that the groundwater pollution risk is mainly at a very low level in most areas of the study area, but the groundwater pollution risk is higher in the areas where the pollution sources gather. The result reveals that the regional groundwater contamination risk level for regional groundwater ecological environment protection provides a theoretical basis for policy making.

Keywords: karst area; groundwater vulnerability; pollution load; groundwater contamination risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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