Assessment and Mapping of Groundwater Vulnerability Using SAR Concentrations and GIS: A Case Study in Al-Mafraq, Jordan

Groundwater is the main source of water supply in Jordan. Due to lower precipitation rates in recent years, the surface water is increasingly limited. Research on groundwater vulnerability helps protect this main source of water supply and assists in the development of plans to confront the deterioration and contamination of aquifers from wastewater and agricultural activities in order to protect groundwater for future generations. The important factors to determine groundwater vulnerability are environmental conditions; hence the spatial conditions in arid to semi-arid areas must be taken into account when applying different models. The aquifer vulnerability has been assessed in Jordan by using the DRASTIC method; remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) data were used to derive and process data. The DRASTIC index was used with seven parameters to describe physical characteristics of the aquifers. It is concluded that about 34% of the area was considered to be of moderate vulnerability, but the share increased to 60% after modifying the index. While high vulnerability was at 25% of the total area, it decreased to 6.3% with the modified index; therefore, urgent pollution prevention measures should be taken for every kind of relevant activity within the whole basin.