Assessment of aquifer vulnerability in parts of Indo Gangetic plain, India

Indo-Gangetic plain encompassed a large alluvial track consisting of multi-tier aquifer system. Due to
stride developmental activities and agricultural advancement, shallow groundwater regime was under
potential threats to get contaminated. In the present study, ‘DRASTIC’ methodology was adopted to
demarcate the zones based on their vulnerability to contamination. In CGP, both quality and quantity of
shallow aquifers to a large extent was governed by land use pattern. Therefore, landuse pattern was
included in the widely applied ‘DRASTIC’ methodology. The landuse pattern was classified into different
categories, for example, industrial, agriculture and rural and a numeric rating was assigned for each
category based on probable risk. The model provided a numerical basis for estimating vulnerability
indices and the map that is thus prepared depicts that 5, 39, 33 and 23% of the area studied correspond
to low, moderate, high and very high vulnerable zones, respectively. As chemical studies unequivocally
demonstrated that pollution is the major source of solutes in groundwater, a good match between TDS
values and vulnerability indices gave credibility in the estimation of vulnerability to contamination.