Abstract

GONZALEZ HERRERA, Roger Amílcar; ALBORNOZ EUAN, Beth Sua Iztaccíhuatl; SANCHEZ Y PINTO, Ismael Abelardo  and  OSORIO RODRIGUEZ, José Humberto. THE YUCATÁN AQUIFER. ANALYSIS OF THE RISK OF CONTAMINATION WITH SUPPORT OF A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2018, vol.34, n.4, pp.667-683. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2018.34.04.09.

Groundwater in Yucatán is the main source of water supply; however, the high permeability of the geological material makes the aquifer vulnerable to contamination. The risk of aquifer contamination can be determined by considering the interaction between subsurface contaminant loads and the aquifer vulnerability. The objective of this work was to apply a methodology developed to evaluate the risk of groundwater contamination that provides information of potentially threatened areas. For the risk analysis, an inventory of contaminant sources was carried out and the hazard and risk indexes were calculated following the methodology of the COST Action 620 Group. Hazard and risk maps were created using a geographic information system. Vulnerability to groundwater contamination was modeled by a modification of the DRASTIC index. The index applied was DRSTIL where D is water depth, R is recharge, S is soil, T is topography, I is impact to the vadose zone and L is land use. The results indicated that the vulnerability to groundwater contamination, evaluated with the DRSTIL index, shows a more conservative differentiation when compared to similar studies carried out in the study area. The moderate vulnerability class occupies the greatest extent. Areas of high danger and areas of high risk are located mainly in the metropolitan area of Mérida.

Keywords : groundwater; hazards; risk; vulnerability; COST Action 620; DRSTIL.