Hydrogeochemical surveys of shallow coastal aquifers: A conceptual model to set-up a monitoring network and increase the resilience of a strategic groundwater system to climate change and anthropogenic pressure

Contamination Assessment and Temporal Evolution of Nitrates in the Shallow Aquifer of the Metauro River Plain (Adriatic Sea, Italy) after Remediation Actions

“…The valley is bordered by outcropping Miocene-to-Pliocene formations, mainly composed by clays and silty clays, marlstones and, to a less extent, evaporites, which form the relatively impermeable bedrock above which the Quaternary alluvial-marine sediments were deposited (Figure 1c). The latter mostly consist of gravel, sand and silty-clay, with interbedded sand, clay and sandy-silty clay that locally prevail [18,22,24,25]. The sandy component becomes prevalent along the shoreline, where beach deposits dominate.…”

“…In this work, the shallow aquifer of the Metauro River plain, located in the northern coastal part of the Marche Region (Central Eastern Italy) and overlooking the Adriatic Sea (Figure 1a), was investigated since it was declared by the regional administration as highly vulnerable to nitrates (Figure 1b) due to the remarkably high NO 3 − concentrations (up to >100 mg/L; [18]). The shallow aquifer is only a limited portion of the drinking water supplied by the local water management company (named ASET Ltd., Fano, Italy) to the local population (about 60,000 people living in the city of Fano), being the main volume provided by the surface water of the Metauro River.…”

“…In this period, the hydrometric level of the Metauro River significantly drops, and agricultural practices and tourist activity increase the water demand, sometimes leading to sporadic water shortages and increasing costs of purification. Consequently, in the early 1990s the local water management company was forced to install a pumping system to inject the NO 3 − -poor waters (<10 mg/L; [18]) from the Metauro River directly into the aquifer (Artificial Recharge Area: ARA) to minimize as much as possible the impact due to the N-bearing species on drinking water [18]. In this study, the main geochemical characteristics of the shallow coastal aquifer of the Metauro River plain were investigated to highlight the extension of the NO 3 -polluted area and the relationships with the other physicochemical parameters using classical geochemical analyses, while multivariate methods were applied to account for the compositional nature of the data [19].…”

“…Eventually, the evolution and temporal trends of NO 3 − concentrations between 2009 and 2020 were evaluated by using Median-Based Linear Regression Models to assess the efficiency of in-situ remediation over time. [20]); (c) geological map (modified from Conti et al [21]) in which the contour lines of bedrock depth are reported (after Taussi et al [22]); (d) land use map (modified from Regione Marche [23]) in which the averaged piezometric isolines referred to 2019-2020 are represented (after Nisi et al [18]). Reference system: WGS84-UTM 33N.…”

Development of Low-Cost IoT System for Monitoring Piezometric Level and Temperature of Groundwater

“…Thus, piezometric level and temperature monitoring are necessary in sustainable management to prevent negative impacts. Piezometric monitoring allows one to take actions to avoid salt intrusion into the aquifer [4,5], caused by a hydrostatic imbalance as a result of different densities between saltwater from the Pacific Ocean and conditioned diminution by pumping continental freshwater; to prevent water deprivation in certain communities and well weakening due to decrease in piezometric level under pumps or well drilling depth; or identify water level increase in topographic depression that generates flood zones [6]. Temperature monitoring enables one to determine electric conductivity in groundwater, which is correlated with water quality by dissolved salt content and piezometric level [7].…”