Application of groundwater sustainability indicators to the carbonate aquifer of the Sierra de Becerrero (Southern Spain)

摘要

The objective of this study was to test the applicability of groundwater sustainability indicators defined by UNESCO, together with the International Academy of Environmental Sciences (IAES), the International Association of Hydrogeology (IAH) Group on Groundwater Indicators and the Geological Survey of Spain (IGME), to the aquifer scale. We selected four main indicators based on their relevance in the field of ground-water sustainability and because they proved to be the most reliable, based on the data collection and methodology utilized. These indicators were applied to a small-26 km~2 of permeable outcrops-carbonate aquifer situated in the province of Seville (southern Spain), which has semi-arid climate conditions (500 mm/year). The integral application of all these indicators in this particular groundwater body leads us to conclude that, at present, the aquifer is undergoing intensive use. Therefore, the exploitation of its water resources is surpassing the threshold of sustainability when both the quantity and the quality of the groundwater are taken into consideration. The continued increase in exploitation generates a descending trend in the evolution of the piezometric levels, a consequence of adaptation to the new hydrodynamic situation, and also results in exhaustion of the springs that drain the aquifer in undisturbed conditions. At the same time, there is a trend of increasing salinity in the groundwater and a risk of contamination by nitrate which, according to the EU Water Framework Directive and the Groundwater Daughter Directive (EU Official Journal of the European Communities L327, 2000; EU Official Journal of the European Communities L372/19, 2006), should be controlled and reduced. In the future, application of the methodology described here may prove useful for the evaluation of similar systems, either in southern Spain or in other countries with semi-arid climates.