International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Preserving the quality and availability of water resources is undoubtedly one of the major challenges of our century. This imperative requires better management against pollutants, whether of natural or anthropogenic origin. This study is part of this environmental perspective, seeking to develop an innovative approach for efficient and sustainable management of water resources. It aims to elaborate the surface water contamination vulnerability map of the Kharroub River dam by applying the DKPR method. The latter is based on four parameters: the accessibility of the aquatic environment (D), the hydric functioning of the soil and subsoil (K), the watershed physiography (P), and the rainfall erosivity (R). The weighted sum of these parameters provided an index labeled “Vr” that varies between 0 and 4. Using this index, the obtained vulnerability map presents five classes. The zone of moderate vulnerability depicts 56.99% and spreads throughout the watershed. Low and high vulnerability areas occupy 26.91% and 15.23%, respectively, they are scattered all over the study area. Areas of very low vulnerability (0.77%) and very high vulnerability (0.1%) are the least developed and located particularly in the center of the watershed. The analysis of the final vulnerability map of the method mentioned above will be a helpful support for water resource managers and decision-makers to better identify areas of high risk and their protection.

Keywords—contamination, DKPR method, Kharroub River watershed, surface water, vulnerability

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Cite: Youssef Touiss, Mohamed Draoui, Khaoula Qarqori, Fadoua Laghrib, and Tarik Bahaj, "Mapping Surface Water Contamination Vulnerability by Applying the DKPR Method: The Case of the Kharroub River Watershed (Northern Morocco) ," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 218-225, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).