Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment in the Metaponto Coastal Plain (Basilicata, Italy)

Abstract

This study aims at a groundwater vulnerability assessment of the Metaponto coastal plain, located in the Basilicata region (southern Italy). In the last century, intensive agriculture, zootechnical and industrial activities have significantly changed the plain. These changes led to negative impacts on the hydrogeological system intensifying the risk of the aquifer to pollution. The paper presents the assessment of the intrinsic vulnerability of the coastal aquifer carried out by the GIS-based application of the SINTACS method. It considers several aquifer parameters such as water table depth, effective infiltration, unsaturated conditions, soil media, aquifer media, hydraulic conductivity and topography. Furthermore, the anthropogenic influence in the study area was considered by applying the SINTACS-LU method, in which the parameter of land use (LU) was added. The SINTACS and SINTACS-LU vulnerability indexes were provided by summing the product of ratings and weights assigned to each parameter. The analysis of the intrinsic vulnerability map allowed for determining three classes ranging from low to high vulnerability. In both cases, the southeastern part of the coastal plain, closest to the sea, shows the highest vulnerability class, indicating that it is the most vulnerable to contamination due to the hydrogeological intrinsic factors. The wide central part of the study area shows a moderate class of vulnerability and the low class is scattered in small parts in the northern portion of the plain, which represents the areas less contaminable in space and time in the case of potential pollution. In the SINTACS-LU map, some areas classified as highly vulnerable in the SINTACS method show a minor vulnerability class. These areas are localized in natural and wooded sectors of the Metaponto plain, which are less populated, where human impact on the groundwater is minimal.

The SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 webGIS: The Online Platform for Relative Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Scenarios up to 2100 for the Mediterranean Coasts

“…Environmental threats are soil erosion [46,47], groundwater depletion [48] and saltwater intrusion [49] due to groundwater overexploitation, rising sea levels, and increasingly intense storm surges [50] which are affecting the agricultural sector and the local economy.…”

Groundwater Vulnerability to Pollution Assessment

“…Canora et al [15] focused their attention on the intrinsic groundwater vulnerability assessment of the Metaponto coastal aquifer (Italy) by the application of the classic and modified SINTACS methods. Indeed, the anthropogenic influence in the area was considered by applying the SINTACS-LU method, in which the land use parameter was added because of its impact on groundwater vulnerability.…”

Groundwater vulnerability assessment using a GIS-based DRASTIC method in the Erbil Dumpsite area (Kani Qirzhala), Central Erbil Basin, North Iraq

“…The choice of method depends on factors such as aquifer type, area scale, data availability and pollutant type (Etuk et al 2022). Given the expense and complexity of groundwater monitoring, (Jain, 2023), researchers have developed economical methodologies that are easier to apply and do not require extensive data or complex computations (Kumar et al 2015;Canora et al 2022;Kirlas et al 2022a). Notable groundwater vulnerability assessment methods include DRASTIC (Aller et al 1987), GOD (Foster, 1987), AVI (Van Stempvoort et al 1993), SINTACS (Civita 1994) and SI (Ribeiro, 2000).…”