10.57647/J.AP.2025.0902.17

Enhancing Resilience in Drinking Water Wells: An Optimal Model for Quality Protection Zone Determination (A Case Study of Maragheh City)

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  • Maghsoud Amirpoor1,
  • Hossein Yousefi2,
  • Nasser Ebadati*3,
  • Seyyed Hossein Hashemi4,
  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, West Tehran branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
  2. Department of New Energy & Environment, Faculty of Tehran University Tehran, Iran
  3. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Eslamshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
  4. Department of Environment, Faculty of Natural Resources & Environment, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran

Received: 2025-05-28

Revised: 2025-07-13

Accepted: 2025-08-31

Published in Issue 2025-12-31

Copyright (c) 2025 Maghsoud Amirpoor, Hossein Yousefi, Nasser Ebadati, Seyyed Hossein Hashemi (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Amirpoor, M., Yousefi, H., Ebadati, N., & Hashemi, S. H. (2025). Enhancing Resilience in Drinking Water Wells: An Optimal Model for Quality Protection Zone Determination (A Case Study of Maragheh City) . Anthropogenic Pollution, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.57647/J.AP.2025.0902.17
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Abstract

In this paper, the water quality characteristics of water wells in Maragheh city were investigated with the aim of determining the resilience status and health risk using the MODFLOW groundwater flow numerical model. Data analysis was improved using the Groundwater Modeling System (GMS) software and acceptable results were obtained by comparing with the methods. Key criteria, such as storage capacity, hydraulic conductivity and specific performance, were accurately determined in 54 separate clusters of drinking water wells. The model was fully calibrated and covered sustainability scenarios for a 22-year period (2001-2023). Based on this approach, a comparative assessment of well quality areas was performed and compared using different analytical methods. Considering the groundwater pollution risk index from 1 to 100, lower values indicate a reduced risk of pollution and, as a result, greater resilience. Therefore, by qualitative zoning of the aquifer around the wells, the pollution risk index was determined and based on that, the level of resilience was determined. The findings showed that about 70% of the well water in the study area had a high pollution risk index (1-20), indicating high resilience, 10% had a medium resilience index (21-40), 10% had a low resilience index (41-60), and 10% had a very low resilience index (>60). Among the new findings of this study are the multifaceted effects of variables such as geographical extent, hydraulic characteristics of the aquifer, and contaminant compositions, indicating the inherent vulnerability of wells and the need to review water resources management.

Keywords

  • Resilience,
  • Zone of Capture,
  • GMS,
  • MODFLOW,
  • Water Pollution
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