ASSESSING LAND SUSCEPTIBILITY FOR POSSIBLE GROUNDWATER POLLUTION DUE TO LEACHING – A CASE STUDY ON ROMANIA

Abstract

Pollution can occur in any environment, but the way the pollutants spread over depends on the environmental features. Some pollutants remain more or less confined to the contamination site, others do not. This paper proposes a territory zoning showing lands susceptibility for possible groundwater pollution through leaching in Romania, if pollution occurs. The method uses a GIS technique and takes into account soil permeability and texture, relief type, depth to groundwater and climatic water deficit. Six land susceptibility classes were obtained for the whole territory. The highest vulnerability to groundwater pollution was assessed for the most permeable sandy soils, or near - river soils, whereas the most resilient environment was assessed for the low permeable clayey soils. This land classification is aimed at drawing attention to stakeholders in order to rank and take the most appropriate measures to prevent and control pollution, if occurring. The regions that are most vulnerable to pollution should be managed with more care than the most resilient regions. If global warming continues, more severe rainfall events are expected to happen, thus enhancing the leaching of pollutants toward groundwater, specifically for the most vulnerable classes.