Groundwater vulnerability assessment to contamination (Erzeni Basin, Albania)

Groundwater quality has been recently deteriorating in different alluvial aquifers of Albania due to industrialization expansion, waste disposal, and agriculture activity. A preliminary assessment of vulnerability to groundwater contamination in Erzeni watershed area was undertaken because of enormous mining activities of river bed alluviums, the presence of the largest urban solid waste disposal site of Tirana and intensive agricultural and industrial activities at the plane part of the river course. The major geological and hydrogeological factors that affect and control groundwater contamination were incorporated into the DRASTIC model. Moreover, a Geographical Information System (Arc Gis 9.2 INFO) was used to create a groundwater vulnerability map of Erzeni river basin. Aquifer vulnerability assessment aims at predicting areas, which are more likely than others to become contaminated as a result of human activities at the land surface. As a result of the vulnerability assessment, 20% of the Erzeni basin was classified as being very highly vulnerable, 5% highly vulnerable, 15% vulnerable at moderate to low levels and, finally, around 60% of the basin has very low vulnerability.