Developments to GRASP 2012/13. GRASP: a GIS tool to assess pollutant threats to shallow groundwater in the Glasgow area

The British Geological Survey (BGS) is developing a geographic information system (GIS)- based prioritisation tool known as GRASP (GRoundwater And Soil Pollutants). GRASP identifies and prioritises threats to shallow groundwater quality from the leaching and downward movement of metal pollutants in the soil and shallow sub-surface environment. Whilst developed for Glasgow, ultimately, its application should be wider. The GRASP tool is being developed as part of the Clyde and Glasgow Urban Super-Project (CUSP) and aims to aid urban planning and sustainable development by providing a broad-scale assessment of threats to groundwater quality across the Glasgow conurbation. This report describes the developments to GRASP in 2012 and 2013. It should be read in conjunction with the BGS internal reports IR/08/057 (Graham et al., 2008), IR/09/026 (Ó Dochartaigh et al., 2009) and IR/10/034 (Fordyce and Ó Dochartaigh, 2011), which describe in detail the initial creation and development of GRASP. The following developments to GRASP were made in 2012/13:  Refined GRASP methodology, to improve the way that soil leaching potential is combined with soil metal concentrations within the prioritisation tool