A Decision Analysis Technique for Ranking Sources of Groundwater Pollution

In order to prioritize potential sources of groundwater pollution in Idaho, water quality planners in that state developed a decision analysis technique which numerically identified the most important pollution sources. The results of this process were subsequently used as a starting point to develop and implement the stateʹs groundwater protection programs. aspects of groundwater contamination risk were evaluated in the ranking model. The first factor was a measure of the ability of any existing regulatory and/or groundwater quality monitoring programs to prevent or remedy groundwater contamination. Second, the severity of the potential impact of a particular pollutant source on public health was ranked. Consideration was given to each pollutantʹs prevalence, toxicity, environmental persistence and mobility, and the size of the population that could potentially be affected if contamination of drinking water supplies were to occur. Lastly, the vulnerability of individual aquifers to become polluted was considered based on hydrogeological characteristics. Application of this methodology yielded a list of 16 potential groundwater contamination sources in order of priority of risk.