The Maggiore Valley well field plays a fundamental role in supplying drinking water to a large territory of the Piedmont (North-western Italy). However an increasing water demand have led to the overexploitation of groundwater resources: this situation caused a progressive drawdown of the piezometric level (locally up to 0.8 m/year), a spatial reduction of the artesian zone, a local land subsidence and well damages. The main intent of this study is the development of a groundwater flow model of the area for analyzing the aquifer response to various pumping strategies. The groundwater flow simulation, achieved by the application of the MODFLOW code, was calibrated satisfactorily. Then the groundwater response to four scenarios was simulated, in order to suggest the best option to mitigate the problem. In three cases a withdrawal decrease of 110 l/s has been simulated, considering or not the re-location of some wells out of the well field zone of influence; moreover a significant withdrawal reduction of 150 l/s, as a result of the possible connection with the water supply of the Monferrato Aqueduct, located north of the study area, was simulated. All the simulations provide an increase of the piezometric level, even up to 30 m. Nevertheless the most promising management strategy for the Maggiore Valley well field is the connection with Monferrato Aqueduct: indeed the piezometric level rises up to 25 m without the necessity of drilling of new wells.
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