Groundwater vulnerability maps are important decision support tools for water resources protection against pollution and helpful to minimize environmental damage. Results demonstrated the scope of the IKAV method in highlighting important regional conditions, minimizing the subjectivity, and expanding the analysis of vulnerability. The first application of the IKAV method was carried out in the Yucatán karst, demonstrating to be a reliable method for vulnerability estimation. A defined workflow and several criteria for parameters and attributes selection, rating and weighting, and vulnerability classification are presented here. However, the focus of the transport model must not be mistaken to be hazards and risk mapping. Also, a solute transport model served as the basis to define additional parameters for vulnerability analysis for areas severely affected by anthropogenic practices. This integrated method, named Integrated Karst Aquifer Vulnerability (IKAV), was developed after the analysis of several study cases around the world and the application of multiple intrinsic groundwater vulnerability methods in a selected study area. In this work, an integrated methodology for the evaluation of potential (intrinsic) and actual vulnerability is presented. Additionally, the theoretical model on which they are based does not consider other important parameters, such as pollutant concentration or pollutant residence time in a given section of the aquifer, solely focusing on the theoretical travel time of a pollutant particle from a release point towards a target. However, these tools carry a high subjectivity along the multiple steps taken for the development of such maps. Groundwater vulnerability maps are important decision support tools for water resource protection against pollution and helpful in minimizing environmental damage. Results can be further discretized to establish a base and to include these parameters as part of a new integrated groundwater vulnerability approach. Well fields are also affected by pollution at variable NO 3 concentrations. Model outcomes suggest that pollutants have a short residence time, reaching the coast in the north after 3 years. This work has two main objectives: to set up a groundwater model to depict as close as possible the groundwater behavior of the Yucatan karst system, and to introduce a transport model to estimate the behavior of a pollution plume. This work aims to define important considerations regarding the behavior of nitrates (NO 3) in a real scenario, to be included in a new integrated vulnerability method. Worldwide, multiple karst vulnerability schemes have been developed and tested however, none of these consider pollutant residence time or pollutant concentration as core parameters to estimate vulnerability. To protect karst groundwater, vulnerability methodologies are widely used. In Yucatan, Mexico, groundwater is the sole source of drinking water, also acting as receptor of untreated wastewater due to the low regional coverage of sewer systems. Karst aquifers are a major source of drinking water with intrinsic features that increase the pollution risk from anthropogenic and natural impacts.
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