Water in Celtic Countries: Quantity, Quality and Climate Variability (Proceedings of the Fourth InterCeltic Colloquium on Hydrology and Management of Water Resources, Guimarćes, Portugal, July 2005).  IAHS Publ. 310, 2007, 181-190.


 

On wellhead protection assessment methods: a case study in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal

 

MARIA JOĆO MOINANTE & JOĆO PAULO LOBO-FERREIRA

Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), Hydraulics and Environment Department (DHA), Groundwater Division (NAS), Av. do Brasil, 101, 1700-066 Lisboa, Portugal

mjmoinante@lnec.pt

 

Abstract Groundwater is vulnerable to several kinds of pollution usually related to the development of anthropogenic activities. Nowadays, wellhead protection areas and their associated restrictions are the most widely used instruments for protecting aquifers. After the description of the wellhead protection area and the presentation of Portuguese regulations that govern wellhead protection areas, a review of the methods applied to define wellhead protection areas in the case study is presented. The study area is briefly described, including the wells used for public water supply, and analytical methods for wellhead protection zone definition are applied, including the method suggested by the Portuguese legislation and the ASMWIN numerical model. Finally, some conclusions are made, based on the results achieved.

 

Key words  analytical method; aquifer protection; groundwater; numerical modelling; pollution; stochastic modelling