ABSTRACT
Aquifer vulnerability assessments, such as the USEPA DRASTIC system, and others are being recommended for use by local governments in Michigan for planning and zoning decisions. Although such assessments provide information about relative regional aquifer vulnerability, their application to site specific planning and zoning decisions by those with little knowlege of hydrogeology could fail to provide protection to vulnerable aquifers. The main problems with aquifer vulnerability assessments are the poor quality of some data sources used in the procedures and the inability to define and characterize the heterogenetiy of near-surface geologic materials.
