ACTA CARSOLOGICA 36/3 – 2007 520 The aut� or of t� e work is Dr. Nataša Ravbar, a researc� - er from t� e Karst researc� Institute, Scientific Researc � Centre of t� e Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Postojna, Slovenia). The presented book is a summary of � er doctoral t� esis defended in 2007 at t� e Graduate Programme Karstology, Faculty of Graduate Studies at t� e University of Nova Gorica. The subtitle of t� e book The protection of karst wa- ters is “ A comprehensive Slovene approach to vulnerabil- ity and contamination risk mapping” and it is designed not only for t� e researc� ers and scientists doing researc� on karst � ydrogeology and vulnerability assessment and mapping, but also for practitioners and decision-mak- ers dealing wit� t � e protection and management of karst groundwater resources. The book 240 x 168 mm includes 254 pages and 136 pictures, of w�ic � are only 16 black and w�ite. Maps, p � otos, sketc� es and diagrams are of excellent quality and an expressive supplement to most intelligible and readable book. The work is divided into 2 parts (Met� odology and Application) wit� 12 c � apters and additional c� apters In- troduction, General conclusions and outlook and Refer- ences. At t� e end of t� e book is a 20 pages summary of t� e work written in Slovene. Coming out from t� e goals and objectives of t� e work, in c� apter 2 general c� aracteristics of karst aquifer A SLOVENE APPROACH - A NEW METHODOLOGy OF GROUNDWATER VULNERABILITy AND RISK MAPPING systems concerning t� eir natural vulnerability to con- tamination are s� ortly described. General c� aracteristics of karst landscapes in Slovenia and examples of � uman impact on karst water quality in Slovenia follow. C� apter Karst water sources in Slovenia deals wit� description of drinking water distribution from karst aquifers in Slo- venia, as well as wit� peoples’ attitude towards drinking water. C� apter 4 is a good overview of t� e management of karst water sources in Slovenia. It treats legislative background for karst drinking water sources protection and related s� ortcomings resulting from an old legisla- tion w�ic � is still reflecting in t � e field of karst drinking sources protection. A s� ort explanation of laws and rules in force and t� eir deficiency in met� odology for water protection zones delineation are described as well. C� apter vulnerability assessment and mapping describes t� e concept of vulnerability proposed by t� e COST Action 620 (Vulnerability and Risk Mapping for t� e Protection of Carbonate (Karstic) Aquifers) and t� e concerning terminology. The most frequently used met� ods for karst aquifers vulnerability assessment and mapping are listed and described in a few words. Some of t� e met� ods (EPIK, PI, SINTACS, t� e Iris� met � od) are described more in detail; t� eir met� odological pro- cedures of vulnerability assessment are also s� own on related figures. The origin – pat� way – target conceptual REVIEWS AND REPORTS / POROČILA ACTA CARSOLOGICA 36/3 – 2007 521 model; factors representing t� e intrinsic c� aracteristics of t� e aquifer system: Concentration of flow (C), Precipita- tion regime (P), Overlaying layers (O) and Karst network development (K); t� e distinction between t� e source and resource protection, all as parts of generally written non-prescriptive European Approac� to intrinsic vulner - ability and risk mapping are explained and sc� ematically s� owed on figures. Quite a few of lately developed met� - ods of vulnerability mapping base on t�is approac �. In work Simplified met� od and a COP met� od as a basis for t� e Slovene Approac� are explained. In c � apter 6 we find a s� ort description of so far made vulnerability maps in Slovene karst regions and an explanation of general met� odological problems related to vulnerability assess- ment arising from special p� ysical c� aracteristics of Slo- vene karst regions. Bot� indicate a need for a new met � od proposal, w�ic � is t � e main goal of t�is work. C� apter 7 (The Slovene Approac� to intrinsic vul - nerability mapping) is t� e very � eart of t� e work. In case of specific c� aracteristics of Slovene karst, t� e aut� or found t� e COP met� od as being most appropriate as a basis for t� e development of t� e Slovene Approac�. In addition t� e Approac� was also influenced by t � e EPIK, PI met� ods and t� e European Approac�. The compari- son of Slovene Approac� wit � ot � er intrinsic vulnerabil- ity met� ods, considered factors, t� e most important ad- vantages and drawbacks of eac� met � od are s� own in a special table. The adaptation of t� e COP met� od includes a slig� t modification of t� e O factor, taking into account topsoil t�ickness, porosity, permeability and t � e diversity of soil t�ickness in karst. The latter is possible wit�in t � e conception of effective soil t�ickness, w �ic � gives t � e transfer time of water t�roug � t � e soil before it enters into t� e karst system. In avoidance to met� odological problems in t� e regions wit� deep unsaturated zone and absence of soil cover, an innovative modification of t� e O factor wit� an additional value for extremely karstified areas was introduced. A significant contribution to t� e vulnerability assessment and mapping is t� e incorpora- tion of � ydrological variability of flow and surface wa- ters consideration, bot� as parts of C factor assessment sc� eme. Hydrological variability � as many implications for contaminant transport and groundwater vulnerabil- ity mapping, but to t�is point � as not been considered as important in existing met� odologies. It takes into ac- count t� e variability of sinking water bodies’ presence. Since one of t� e concepts of vulnerability mapping is also t� e idea t� at it is more important to protect most vul- nerable areas, t� e aut� or also made some modifications of C factor concerning t� e reduction of concentration point rec� arge catc�ments areas extent. Some modifica - tion concerning slope inclination and vegetation cover protection values of C factor, based on t� e fact, t� at t� e steeper t� e slope and sparser t� e vegetation, t� e �ig � er is t� e vulnerability, were done as well. In comparison to t� e COP met� od t� e P factor of t� e Slovene Approac� � as been fully modified. The aspects of precipitation quantity and intensity are considered, but in a different way. De- spite some improvements in t� e assessment of P score, w�ic � is a valuable contribution to t � e international re- searc� in t � e field of vulnerability mapping, some com- mon problems, suc� as consideration of dilution (�ig � er quantities of precipitation) in vulnerability assessment, remain unsolved. Scientists doing researc� on vulner - ability assessment and mapping need to focus on t�is is - sue in t� e future. The Slovene Approac� concerns wit � source vulnerability assessment and t� us t� e � orizontal pat� in t � e saturated zone is considered (factor K). The Approac� suggests t � at t� e K factor assessment s� ould be based mainly on flow velocities, connection and con- tribution to t� e source, w�ic � are t � e most important contamination aspects. Duration of a contamination and information on active conduit network s� ould be consid- ered too. Assessment sc� eme for K factor includes t�ree subfactors: travel time, information on karst network and connection and contribution. The primary basis on t� e groundwater flow velocities wit�in t � e saturated zone, t� e second indicates t� e presence of an active conduit network, and t� e latter indicates parts of t� e catc�ment t� at eit� er always or rarely contribute to t� e source and are eit� er directly or indirectly connected to and drained by t� e source. The distinction between inner and outer zone is similar as it is used in Ireland and basis on t� e � y- drogeological structure of t� e rec� arge area. At t� e end of t� e c� apter t� e Slovene approac� to resource and source intrinsic vulnerability assessment sc� eme is s� own on a figure. Slovene Approac� to � azard and risk mapping pre- sented in c� apter 8 is based on t� e European Approac�. Hazard weig� ting and ranking is adapted to Slovene cir- cumstances. Encouraged by some previous initiatives t� e aut� or additionally included t� e aspect of source importance into risk assessment sc� eme. The evaluation of re(source) importance t� us considers its social impor- tance, conducive to public benefit, economic importance for eit� er agricultural or ot� er activities and ecologic importance. The aut� or also suggests t� at t� e protection zoning s� ould take t� e importance of t� e source toget� er wit� t � e vulnerability map as t� e basis. The final risk in- tensity assessment map is obtained by taking into con- sideration bot� an intrinsic vulnerability map (resource or source) and a � azard map. Adding a re(source) im- portance index to risk intensity index, a total risk can be acquired. Suc� a risk assessment sc � eme is very under- standable also for t� e land use managers and decision- makers. REVIEWS AND REPORTS / POROČILA ACTA CARSOLOGICA 36/3 – 2007 522 In t� e second part of t� e book t� e application and verification of t� e Slovene Approac� in t � e catc�ment of t� e karst spring Podstenjšek at t� e foot of t� e Snežnik plateau is explained. In c� apter 9 � ydrogeological c� ar- acteristics of t� e studied area are described. The c� arac- terization of t� e Podstenjšek spring and its catc�ment was obtained using a wide range of different geological, geomorp� ological and � ydrological met� ods and tec� - niques, including detailed geological mapping, monitor- ing of springs, � ydroc� emical analysis and tracing exper- iments. In order to evaluate t� e applicability of t� e pro- posed new Approac� five intrinsic vulnerability met � ods � ave been applied to t� e Podstenjšek karst spring catc� - ment in order to compare and validate t� e results ob- tained by different evaluation of definite parameters. In c� apter 10 t� e comparison of t� ese maps is presented, s� owing significantly different and sometimes contradic- tory results t� oug� using t � e same database. Since t� e met� od � as only been applied to abovementioned test site, it � as not been sufficiently tested. Nevert� eless, t� e results are consistent. C� apter 11 deals wit� t � e � azard and risk mapping of t� e test site. The classified � azard map obtained by t� e mapping of actual and potential sources of contamina- tion (settlement Šembije, agriculture activities, traffic, waste disposal dumps, excavations) s� ows t� at t� e ma- jority of t� e catc�ment is assigned as no or very low � az- ard. Similarly, t� e total risk map s� ows t� at only 2 % of t� e catc�ment is assigned as medium and all t � e rest as low risk. Nevert� eless, t� e aut� or suggested several nec- essary measurements for t� e spring’s protection. An important contribution to t� e science is t� e pro- posed met� odology for t� e validation of vulnerability maps, explained in c� apter 12. In many cases worldwide different met� odologies for intrinsic vulnerability map- ping � ave been applied, but not many of t� em � ave been validated. Therefore no common tec�nique for vulnera - bility map validation � as been accepted so far. For valida- tion, artificial conservative tracer test are recommended and t� e aut� or suggests t� at tracer test results s� ould be evaluated on t� e basis of two criteria. The first one s � ould be t� e time of t� e tracer’s first arrival or t� e time of maxi- mum concentration. The second is t� e ratio between t� e integral of t� e breakt�roug � curve and t � e tracer input quantity (normalized tracer recovery). The validation of t� e obtained maps (c� apter 10) was performed by car- rying out t� e multi-tracer test. The results s� ow t� at t� e performance of artificial tracer test can be used as simu- lation of a contamination event from t� e origin point to t� e target. Because of t� e integration of � ydrological vari- ability into vulnerability mapping met� odology sc� eme, t� e newly proposed Slovene Approac� gave most plau - sible results, w� ereas s� ows t� e same degree of vulner- ability at all t� e injection sites as validated. In General conclusion and outlook (c� apter 13) t� e significance of t� e results, applicability of t� e Slo- vene Approac� and new researc � c � allenges regarding t� e proposed met� odology are discussed giving a good overview over t� e met� odological and applicable part of t�is book. The book contains a list of 199 references and ad- ditionally a list of 11 ot� er data sources. W� ere and � ow to order t� e book, see p.527. Gregor Kovačič REVIEWS AND REPORTS / POROČILA