Proposta di strategie di gestione sostenibile della risorsa idrica, in ambiente mediterraneo, finalizzata agli interventi per la lotta alla desertificazione (Sardinia NW, Italy)

This paper is concerned with the methodological approach and preliminary results of a study conducted on the sustainable management of water resources aimed ultimately at defining measures for combating desertification. The primary object is to explore and develop models and strategies for innovative and sustainable water resources management solutions, adopting a multidisciplinary approach, at the drainage and/or hydrogeological basin scale in a Mediterranean context, using a case study from a pilot area in Sardinia as a basis. Criteria for selecting the pilot area were dictated by the need for specific features such as the presence of surface waterbodies (rivers, channels, dams, etc.), of confined and unconfined aquifers and of urban agglomerates and productive activities, thus with competing water demands. An area was identified in the NW part of Sardinia, in the Nurra region, specifically the basin draining into the Calich lagoon. A multidisciplinary research project has been drawn up and tested for the purpose of collecting the necessary information required for developing integrated and sustainable water resource management solutions, also taking into consideration recently enforced legislation

Seawater intrusion and coastal groundwater resources management. Examples from two Mediterranean regions: Catalonia and Sardinia

Seawater intrusion is a natural phenomenon that allows the encroachment of saline water into aquifers. Nevertheless, many human actions along the coastline, in particular groundwater withdrawal, enhance this process and finally cause the salinization of groundwater resources. Here we review the hydrogeological basis of seawater intrusion and describe specific cases in Catalonia and Sardinia, as examples of environmental problems and water management actions. We emphasize the origin of salinization and the hydrogeological details of each case, as well as the solutions that have been implemented to prevent groundwater salinization

Seawater intrusion and coastal groundwater resources management. Examples from two Mediterranean regions: Catalonia and Sardinia

Seawater intrusion is a natural phenomenon that allows the encroachment of saline water into aquifers. Nevertheless, many human actions along the coastline, in particular groundwater withdrawal, enhance this process and finally cause the salinization of groundwater resources. Here we review the hydrogeological basis of seawater intrusion and describe specific cases in Catalonia and Sardinia, as examples of environmental problems and water management actions. We emphasize the origin of salinization and the hydrogeological details of each case, as well as the solutions that have been implemented to prevent groundwater salinization. [Contrib Sci 10:171-184 (2014)

Water balance estimates for determining natural aquifer recharge in the arid context of the Oum Zessar area (SE Tunisia)

WADIS-MAR demonstration Project, Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR),  Available Water Content (AWC

Hydrogeological and geophysical investigations for groundwater in the Arumeru District (Northern Tanzania)

Due to water shortage, in the wards of Ngarenanyuki and Oldonyosambu (Arumeru District, Northern Tanzania), the per capita daily water consumption is 8 liters as.average, The avaleability goes down to 3-4 liters in the dry seasons when most of the population cannot resort to seasonal ponds or streams and so it is compelled to concentrate around the few perennial water points. This datum is quite far from the Millennium Goal objectives that foresee a quantity of at least 20 l/d/p (litres per day per person) for the Development Countries population, within 2015. Problems are also related to water quality, in particular, the high concentration of fluoride that characterises the waters in East Africa Rift System

Sustainable water resources management to combat desertification in the Nurra region, northwestern Sardinia, Italy

Sustainable water management plays an important role in the frame of the multidisciplinary research activities aiming to combat or to mitigate the desertification processes. The study activities have been carried out by RIADE Research Project (Integrated Research for Applying new technologies and processes for combating Desertification, www.riade.net. RIADE was co-financed by MIUR within the National Operative Programme 2000-2006. The primary objective was to explore and to develop models and strategies for innovative and sustainable solutions of water resources management, adopting a multidisciplinary approach, at the catchment and hydrogeological basin scale in a Mediterranean context, using a case history of a pilot area in NW Sardinia (Italy). The high concentration of population in this coastal zone and the intense agricultural activity have determined a relevant increase of water demand. This demand is generally satisfied by surface water, but, in some peculiar dry periods, it exceeds the available quantities. In these critical periods, groundwater are the only alternative source constituting a strategic water resource. The groundwater chemical properties are then correlated with the effects of the anthropogenic pressures. The used approach shows the application of groundwater protection criteria, in accordance with EU policies, and it was aimed to develop a methodological tool which can be applied to different scenarios

Testing indirect methods to infer hydraulic conductivity in streambed sediments: preliminary results

Hydraulic conductivity, grain-size parameters, empirical approach, Kozeny-Carman model

Studio sulla gestione sostenibile delle risorse idriche: dall’analisi conoscitiva alle strategie di salvaguardia e tutela

Nell’ambito delle attività di ricerca multidisciplinari, volte a contrastare o mitigare i processi di desertificazione, un ruolo importante deve essere attribuito al tema della corretta gestione delle risorse idriche. Le pressioni di tipo antropico, legate anche alle attività produttive ed ai loro impatti (lo scarico incontrollato di reflui di varia origine, l’irrorazione di sostanze chimiche per trattamenti antiparassitari e concimazioni, il sovrasfruttamento delle acque sotterranee, i fenomeni d’intrusione di acqua marina ecc.), possono produrre un degrado di questa risorsa, rendendola inadatta ai vari usi ed in particolare a quelli più pregiati (idropotabili e ambientali). Il volume illustra e propone una metodologia di studio multidisciplinare della risorsa idrica, a scala di bacino idrografico e/o idrogeologico in ambiente mediterraneo, partendo da un caso di studio in un’area campione della Sardegna. I criteri di scelta dell’area pilota, individuata nel bacino del Calich, sono stati dettati dall’esigenza di soddisfare alcune peculiarità quali: presenza di corpi idrici superficiali (fiumi, canali, dighe ecc.), acquiferi superficiali e profondi, agglomerati urbani e attività produttive, che generano quindi usi competitivi della risorsa idrica

Caratterizzazione tipologica dei rapporti tra fenomeni di desertificazione ed acque superficiali e sotterranee, osservati e studiati in Sardegna

This study has been carried out within a broader research project, RIADE, concerned with the characterization of the types of relationships existing between desertification processes and surfaceand groundwater observed and investigated in Objective 1 regions. The underlying assumption is that the deteriorating quality and diminishing quantity of a region’s water resources impact negatively on the development of all living things and on human organization, and thus represent a basic indicator of desertification, intended in its broadest sense as the degradation of bioproductive land. By re-processing the scientific results obtained for Sardinia during this project, we have developed a reference framework for the systematic representation of the types found, qualitatitive/quantitative natural or anthropogenic degradation phenomena/processes of water resources in Sardinia. Two distinct criteria have been adopted for the typological categorization of the deteriorating quality and diminishing quantity of water, both divorced from the environmental and regional context in which they occur.The first criterion is based on an analysis of water quantity and quality and on the “pollutant type”, along the lines suggested by the Italian Research Council’s National Group for Hydrogeological Disaster Protection (GNDCI); the second criterion uses the DPSIR model adopted by the European Environmental Agency (EEA), which defines five indicator categories for the state and evolution of the environmen

ANALYSIS OF SPATIO-TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF AEOLIAN PROCESSES IN ARID AND SEMI-ARID AREAS USING REMOTE SENSING

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