VULNERABILITY MAP: A USEFUL TOOL FOR GROUNDWATER PROTECTION: AN EXAMPLE FROM MOURIKI BASIN, NORTH GREECE

Groundwater is actually under strong human, pressures in many regions of Greece. The most efficient measure to fight against groundwater pollution is to make a plan for integral prevention. For this purpose, the vulnerability maps are designed to indicate the areas of greatest potential for groundwater contamination on the basis of hydrogeological conditions and human impacts. This paper deals with the assessment of groundwater vulnerability to pollution of Mouriki alluvial aquifer (NW Greece) as well as the test of produced vulnerability map validity at the study area. The Mouriki alluvial aquifer is situated at the northwestern part of Greece, covering an area of 30.5 Km(2); the mean altitude is equal to 645 m asl. The aquifer provides water for both domestic and agricultural uses in the area and it is under great pressures due to the intense agriculture activities. The well known DRASTIC method for aquifer vulnerability assessment in GIS environment was applied using hydro-geological, hydraulic and soil data. The DRASTIC method was tested using nitrate concentrations data from hydrochemical analyses of groundwater samples. The results confirm the validity of the DRASTIC method to support planning, policy, and management on the basis of aquifer vulnerability assessment. The vulnerability map could be used by local authorities and decision makers in order to prevent the groundwater pollution.