Assessing groundwater vulnerability potential using modified DRASTIC in Ajabshir Plain, NW of Iran

The vulnerability of groundwater as the primary source of water for human survival should be assessed for the purpose of pollution management. The Ajabshir plain, one of the major agricultural areas in the northwest of Iran, is always prone to pollution. Therefore, to prevent the increase in pollution, it is necessary to determine the polluting factors and areas prone to groundwater pollution. In this study, by modifying the DRASTIC method using the land-use layer, called DRASTICL, vulnerable areas and pollution index were mapped. To ensure dealing with the uncertainty of the parameters, the DRASTICL model was optimized utilizing the Sugeno-type fuzzy inference system. The models were validated based on nitrate pollution. The correlation of DRASTICL and its optimized model with the nitrate pollution are 0.32 and 0.8, respectively. The results of this study show that integrating the DRASTIC model and fuzzy knowledge is an instrumental way for assessment of vulnerability potential.