Dynamic Groundwater Contamination Vulnerability Assessment Techniques: A Systematic Review

Assuring the quantity and quality of groundwater resources is essential for the well-being of human and ecological health, society, and the economy. For the last few decades, groundwater vulnerability modeling techniques have become essential for groundwater protection and management. Groundwater contamination is highly dynamic due to its dependency on recharge, which is a function of time-dependent parameters such as precipitation and evapotranspiration. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the time-series analysis in the approximation process to model the dynamic vulnerability of groundwater contamination. This systematic literature review (SLR) aims to critically review the methods used to evaluate the spatiotemporal assessment of groundwater vulnerability. The PRISMA method was employed to search web platforms and refine the collected research articles by applying certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. Despite the enormous growth in this field in recent years, spatiotemporal variations in precipitation and evapotranspiration were not considered considerably. Groundwater contamination vulnerability assessment needs to integrate the multicriteria decision support tools for better analysis of the subsurface flow, residence time, and groundwater recharge. Holistic approaches need to be formulated to evaluate the groundwater contamination in changing climatic scenarios and uncertainties, which can provide knowledge and tools with which to prepare sustainable groundwater management strategies.

Automated summary

Ensuring the quantity and quality of groundwater resources is crucial for human and ecological health, society, and the economy. Groundwater vulnerability modeling techniques have become essential for groundwater protection and management, but spatiotemporal variations in precipitation and evapotranspiration have not been adequately considered. A holistic approach integrating multicriteria decision support tools is needed to evaluate the dynamic vulnerability of groundwater contamination.