Water resources are a critical natural asset, providing water for over 50% of the global population and supplying 43% of the water required for agricultural irrigation. More than 2.5 billion people rely on these resources daily. However, various contamination factors threaten water quality, necessitating the development of effective strategies to safeguard this valuable resource. This study aims to produce a digital map of the study area, illustrating the spatial relationship between water heads and mechanic workshops and determining the minimum safe radius of influence as a setback distance. The methodology involved mapping mechanic workshops and water heads using handheld GPS device, coupled with data acquisition from Google Earth imagery and OpenStreetMap (OSM). Streets were digitized from OSM, while Google Earth imagery was georeferenced with a root mean square (RMS) error of 0.003 inches, which is within the acceptable standard of 0.004 inches. Subsequently, mechanic workshops and water heads were plotted, and a database was created using Excel in ArcCatalog to produce a digital map showing their locations. The findings revealed that the minimum safe radius to prevent contamination is 10 meters from any point on the workshop polygon to the water heads. Consequently, it is recommended to maintain this setback distance to safeguard groundwater quality from potential contamination. Future research should explore automated methods for mapping to enhance the protection of groundwater quality further.
Ejiga et al. (Tue,) studied this question.