Evaluation of the groundwater quality in the Alcochete area using GIS
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abstract
Most of the water needed for domestic, agricultural, recreational and industrial activities in the Alcochete municipality (Portugal) comes from groundwater sources. However, doubts remain on the state of its quality and attractiveness for the current uses. A monitoring campaign was set in 67 groundwater sources (26 wells and 41 boreholes) for the period of 4 months to evaluate the water quality status. In order to better analyse the large and complex available information it was necessary to setup a Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which allowed georeferencing data, creating relational databases and generating thematic and suitability maps for the use of groundwater. The results show that most of the water wells are chlorinated calcic type and have no minimum quality to be used for production of drinking water, but may be used for agricultural irrigation. Most o the water boreholes are chlorinated sodium type, and approximately 70.7% presents the minimum quality to be used for production of drinking water and all of the sources can be used for agricultural irrigation. Nitrate is the most important contaminant, but chlorides and iron are also of concern. The results of this study will allow establishing relationship between water, geological environment and anthropogenic fluxes, which have been influencing changes in water quality, as well as determining flow directions, recharge and discharge areas. This information, which was aggregated in a database using GIS is very useful for the further establishment of sustainable water management measures.
