Preliminary groundwater modelling by considering the interaction with superficial water: Aosta plain case (northern Italy)

The study is developed through scientific cooperation between the University of Milano-Bicocca and the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA) of the Valle d'Aosta Region. Its aim is to produce a decision-support tool to help the Public Administration'manage groundwater and public water supply. The study area is the plain of Aosta, between the cities of Aymavilles and Brissogne; in this area groundwater represents the main source of public water supply. The valley is oriented east-west, along the Baltea for a length of 13.1 km and a width of 4.6 km. The textural and hydrogeological properties of the deposits are strictly connected to glacial deposition and to the subsequent sedimentary processes which took place in glacial, lacustrine and fluvial systems. The study is based on available well information in the Aosta plain - including water wells (133) and piezometers (121) - which have been coded and stored in the well database TANGRAM,. The database facilitates interpretation of the well data, and it allows three-dimensional mapping of subsurface hydrogeological characteristics through database codification and ordinary kriging interpolation. The study is designed to achieve two objectives. The first is to provide the Aosta Public Authorities with a well database in order to simplify groundwater management. The second is to provide Public Authorities with a groundwater flow model of the local aquifer. The model integrates surface and subsurface flows in order to fully account for all important stresses, both natural and anthropogenic, on the groundwater system. It provides a tool for testing hypotheses (such as the impact of new wells) and thereby allows science-based management of the aquifer resource

Hydrogeological characterization throughout deep geophysical investigations in the Verrès plain (Aosta Valley, north-western Italian Alps)

Although fresh water availability in the Aosta Valley (north-western Italian Alps) is generally granted by glaciers and snow seasonal melting at high altitudes, hydrogeological conditions are not favorable everywhere. Most part of the territory is typically mountainous, with prevailing metamorphic rocks and, secondarily, glacial deposits. Relevant ground water bodies can be found only in the main bottom valley, where glacial excavation, fluvio-glacial and lacustrine sedimentation had maximum intensity, allowing the deposition of important thickness of porous materials. Nevertheless, the geological knowledge of the subsurface is here still poor. These groundwater bodies are monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency of the Aosta Valley Region (ARPA Valle d’Aosta), according to the Italian law (D.Lgs.30/09). This study deals with geophysical investigations in the Verrès plain aquifer (southern Aosta Valley). The main goal of the study has been the first evaluation of groundwater research in potential deep aquifers. Different geophysical methodologies were applied (ERT, TDEM, HVSR, and Re.Mi.), in order to identify the deep aquifer geometry and the rock basement depth

Preliminary groundwater modelling by considering the interaction with superficial water: Aosta plain case (northern Italy)

The study is developed through scientific cooperation between the University of Milano-Bicocca and the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA) of the Valle d’Aosta Region. Its aim is to produce a decision-support tool to help the Public Administration’manage groundwater and public water supply. The study area is the plain of Aosta, between the cities of Aymavilles and Brissogne; in this area groundwater represents the main source of public water supply. The valley is oriented east-west, along the Baltea for a length of 13.1 km and a width of 4.6 km. The textural and hydrogeological properties of the deposits are strictly connected to glacial deposition and to the subsequent sedimentary processes which took place in glacial, lacustrine and fluvial systems. The study is based on available well information in the Aosta plain - including water wells (133) and piezometers (121) - which have been coded and stored in the well database TANGRAM,. The database facilitates interpretation of the well data, and it allows three-dimensional mapping of subsurface hydrogeological characteristics through database codification and ordinary kriging interpolation. The study is designed to achieve two objectives. The first is to provide the Aosta Public Authorities with a well database in order to simplify groundwater management. The second is to provide Public Authorities with a groundwater flow model of the local aquifer. The model integrates surface and subsurface flows in order to fully account for all important stresses, both natural and anthropogenic, on the groundwater system. It provides a tool for testing hypotheses (such as the impact of new wells) and thereby allows science-based management of the aquifer resource