Assessment of groundwater vulnerability by applying the improved DRASTIC model: a case in Guyuan City, Ningxia, China

Groundwater is the main source of production and living in most arid and semi-arid areas, and it plays an increasingly critical role in achieving local urban development. There is a serious issue regarding the contradiction between urban development and groundwater protection. In this study, we used three different models to assess the groundwater vulnerability of Guyuan City, including DRASTIC model, analytical hierarchy process-DRASTIC model (AHP-DRASTIC) and variable weight theory-DRASTIC model (VW-DRASTIC). The groundwater vulnerability index (GVI) of the study area was calculated in ArcGIS. Based on the magnitude of GVI, the groundwater vulnerability was classified into five classes: very high, high, medium, low, and very low using the natural breakpoint method, and the groundwater vulnerability map (GVM) of the study area was drawn. In order to validate the accuracy of groundwater vulnerability, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used, and the results showed that the VW-DRASTIC model performed best among the three models (rho=0.83). The improved VW-DRASTIC model shows that the variable weight model effectively improves the accuracy of the DRASTIC model, which is more suitable for the study area. Finally, based on the results of GVM combined with the distribution of F- and urban development planning, suggestions were proposed for further sustainable groundwater management. This study provides a scientific basis for groundwater management in Guyuan City, which can be an example for similar areas, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas.