Fuzzy logic model development for groundwater pollution risk assessment

The following paper presents a methodology for a rapid and effective assessment of groundwater pollution risk connected with the presence of uncontrolled landfills. Moreover, this methodology supplies an environmental planning tool to define a groundwater risk hierarchy index in function of some intrinsic characteristics of landfills and territory, in which they are located. The risk assessment was carried out with a fuzzy model, which includes the groundwater vulnerability and the intrinsic hazard of landfills. In particular, for the assessment of groundwater vulnerability the GNDCI-CNR method was used. This method examines the different geological, hydrogeological and morphological characteristics of the territory. Whereas, the hazard of landfills was evaluated together with the risk of contamination of the aquifers in the fuzzy model, taking into account the different descriptor parameters of the landfills. In addition, the fuzzy model was combined with the sensitivity analysis in order to overcome the problem of subjectivity and uncertainty associated with both input data and fuzzy conceptual model