Analysis of the possibility of parameters reduction in SINTACS method.

The estimation of contamination vulnerability, especially referred to complex aquifers, is often difficult to assess, depending on many hydrogeological factors. Their evaluation is frequently characterized by a general uncertainty due to unavoidable inaccuracy and/or incompleteness of field data. The problem can be worsened by non-linear behaviors of the inhomogeneous elements of water systems, which can exhibit non-independence features. Pearson correlation coefficient is used as an analysis tool to validate consistency of SINTACS (a well-known contamination vulnerability mapping method) parameters for the studied areas. A Matlab® routine has processed all the possible combinations of couples of non-weighted matrixes, recognizing similarity and/or singularity grades. The aim is to propose the elimination of parameters affected by redundancy in vulnerability assessment. Preliminary outcomes show, for both areas, different values, allowing categorizing SINTACS parameters on the basis of their non-independence or singularity features (Infiltration, Depth to water and Slope).