Evaluating Groundwater Pollution Potential to Select the Optimal Landfill Site in Karun County

The increasing population growth along with human activities has led to the booming of waste production.  The selection of inappropriate landfill sites contributes to the increased potential of underground pollutions. The purpose of this study was to zone the underground water vulnerabilities of Karun County in Khuzestan Province to select the optimal landfill site, so that a site with the least vulnerability of aquifer would be selected for waste disposal. Two models were used to zone the aquifer pollution potential, namely GODS and SINTACS. After preparing the vulnerability maps of the two models in GIS software, the appropriateness levels of the sites for waste disposal were prioritized. The results of SINTACS model demonstrated the following vulnerability statistics: 455.22 hectares have no vulnerability potential, 780.84 hectares very low vulnerability, 3281.31 hectares low vulnerability, 12582.4 hectares low to medium vulnerability, 11169.9 hectares medium to high vulnerability, 9449.6 hecaters high vulnerability, 5844.15 hectares very high vulnerability, and 495.72 hectares totally at vulnerability risk. Moreover, in GODS model, nearly 215.576 hectares have negligible vulnerability, 560.544 hectares low vulnerability, 5169.08 hectares medium vulnerability, 37471.9 hectares high vulnerability, and 641.9 hectares very high vulnerability. In both models, the least vulnerable zones comprise a small part of the area (1.03 percent in SINTACS and 0.49 percent in GODS model). This level can be selected as the optimal landfill site (rank 1), while other zones are ranked lower due to their higher aquifer vulnerability levels.