| Abstract | This paper describes a study conducted on a coastal agricultural area of southern Italy to assess the impending risk of aquifer degradation related to intensive groundwater pumping by farmers with the aim of offsetting the poor irrigation delivery service provided by the local water management agency. The study area is intensively farmed by small land-holding growers with high-value horticultural crops, and whose irrigation deliveries are supplied by a gravity-fed water distribution system operated by a local water users' organization. The soil and aquifer degradation hazards were appraised using a simplified environmental risk assessment procedure that allowed identifying the risk-generating processes, assessing the magnitude of impacts, and estimating the overall risks significance. The investigations revealed significant aquifer salinity increase during the past years. The stakeholders' perspective on agricultural water use was collected through field interviews, and framed using a fuzzy cognitive map, which revealed the farmers' propensity to pump groundwater rather than rely on rotational deliveries from the surface distribution system. Finally, some preliminary risk mitigation options were appraised by exploring the growers' response to possible changes of irrigation deliveries by the water users organization. The presented study consisted of multi-annual observations, data analysis, and modelling efforts, which jointly proved to be useful for analysing the main drivers to stakeholders' decisions, and their long-term impacts on water resources use and management. |
| Text | 340512 2016 10.1002/clen.201400396 Scopus 2 s2.0 84957818849 ISI Web of Science WOS 000374541500007 Environmental risk assessment Fuzzy cognitive maps Groundwater degradation Irrigation delivery systems Seawater intrusion Risk Assessment of Aquifer Salinization in a Large Scale Coastal Irrigation Scheme, Italy Daniele Zaccaria, Giuseppe Passarella, Daniela D Agostino, Raffaele Giordano and Samuel Sandoval Solis Daniele Zaccaria, University of California, Davis, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources LAWR , Davis, CA, USA Giuseppe Passarella, National Research Council, Water Research Institute CNR IRSA , Bari, Italy Daniela D Agostino, CIHEAM Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, Division of Land and Water Resources Management, Valenzano, Bari, Italy Raffaele Giordano, National Research Council, Water Research Institute CNR IRSA , Bari, Italy Samuel Sandoval Solis, University of California, Davis, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources LAWR , Davis, CA, USA This paper describes a study conducted on a coastal agricultural area of southern Italy to assess the impending risk of aquifer degradation related to intensive groundwater pumping by farmers with the aim of offsetting the poor irrigation delivery service provided by the local water management agency. The study area is intensively farmed by small land holding growers with high value horticultural crops, and whose irrigation deliveries are supplied by a gravity fed water distribution system operated by a local water users organization. The soil and aquifer degradation hazards were appraised using a simplified environmental risk assessment procedure that allowed identifying the risk generating processes, assessing the magnitude of impacts, and estimating the overall risks significance. The investigations revealed significant aquifer salinity increase during the past years. The stakeholders perspective on agricultural water use was collected through field interviews, and framed using a fuzzy cognitive map, which revealed the farmers propensity to pump groundwater rather than rely on rotational deliveries from the surface distribution system. Finally, some preliminary risk mitigation options were appraised by exploring the growers response to possible changes of irrigation deliveries by the water users organization. The presented study consisted of multi annual observations, data analysis, and modelling efforts, which jointly proved to be useful for analysing the main drivers to stakeholders decisions, and their long term impacts on water resources use and management. Postprint http //onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/clen.201400396/abstract doi 10.1002/clen.201400396 02/12/2014 Risk Assessment of Aquifer Salinization in a Large Scale Coastal Irrigation Scheme, Italy Articolo su rivista intenazionale con IF. Received July 4, 2014 / Revised October 26, 2014 / Accepted December 2, 2014. Zaccaria_et_al_CLEAN_Soil_Air_Water.pdf Articolo in rivista Wiley VCH Verl. 1863 0650 Clean Weinh., Print Clean Weinh., Print Clean Weinh., Print Clean. Weinh., Print Clean soil, air, water Print Weinh., Print giuseppe.passarella PASSARELLA GIUSEPPE raffaele.giordano GIORDANO RAFFAELE TA.P04.005.008 Integrazione di metodologie per il monitoraggio e la modellizzazione per la gestione delle risorse idriche |
