Assessment Of Groundwater Vulnerability To Pollution Using Modified Drastic Model In Bure Town, Ethiopia

Atinkut, Kelemu

dc.contributor.author	Atinkut, Kelemu
dc.date.accessioned	2025-09-17T11:28:06Z
dc.date.available	2025-09-17T11:28:06Z
dc.date.issued	2025-01
dc.identifier.uri	http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/16853
dc.description.abstract	Groundwater resources, which account for about 30 percent of global freshwater, are the most abundant, clean, and important resource for human and ecosystem adaptability. However, the quality of groundwater is gradually deteriorating due to rapid population increase, urbanization, climate change, and anthropogenic activities. So, groundwater quality protection has become a global concern. One of the mechanisms for protecting groundwater quality is vulnerability assessment to test its sensitivity to pollution. The study was carried out in Bure town which hosts a large number of population settlements and several industries with no good working waste stabilization ponds. The study aimed to assess the vulnerability of groundwater to pollution in Bure town using the modified DRASTIC model. In this study, the modified DRASTIC model was used which integrated eight parameters including depth to water, net recharge, aquifer media, soil media, topography, the impact of the vadose zone, hydraulic conductivity, and land use land cover. The spatial variation of vulnerability was identified by integrating the thematic layers using a raster calculator tool on the GIS environment. Primary data types such as remote sensing data and meteorological data were primary data as well as secondary data inputs such as geological maps, soil maps, hydrogeological log data, pumping test data, static water levels, and water quality data were used. The result of vulnerability revealed vulnerability index value of the study area ranges from 74 to 173. Accordingly, 67.05% of the area was under medium to high vulnerability zone. Areas with a high vulnerability index (35.82%) were found in the central and northwestern part of Bure town in association with industrial, residential, and intensive agricultural areas respectively while low vulnerability zones (32.99%) were found in most of the eastern peripheral part in association with plantation and other open areas. The validation of the model using Pearson's correlation coefficient "R2" was determined to be 0.55 suggesting a positive correlation between the nitrate value and vulnerability index. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the depth to water level and the land use factor were influencing factors. The spatial variation of water quality parameters showed variations from one site to another although most of them are within the acceptable limits. The value of pH ranges from 6.5 to 8.4, indicating the acidic to alkaline nature of the water which was supported by variations in EC and TDS which range from 331.9 μS/cm to 5429.6 μS/cm and 215.8 and 3555.3 mg/L respectively. Higher levels of nitrate (33.9 mg/L) were revealed in northwestern sites where intensive agriculture (as a non-point source) is practiced followed by residential and industrial areas. A strong correlation between agricultural	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Geography and Environmental Studies	en_US
dc.title	Assessment Of Groundwater Vulnerability To Pollution Using Modified Drastic Model In Bure Town, Ethiopia	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US