Agricultural changes affecting water availability: from abundance to scarcity (Fucino Plain, central Italy)
✍ Scribed by Ezio Burri; Marco Petitta
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2004
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 357 KB
- Volume
- 53
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1531-0353
- DOI
- 10.1002/ird.119
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
The study reported in this paper analysed the significant agricultural changes that the Fucino Plain (central Italy) has experienced in the past few years and their impact on water availability. In the past, the Fucino Plain (surface area: over 200 km^2^) hosted the largest lake of central Italy. In the late 1800s, the lake was drained to be used as farmland. Recently, however, the fast change in agricultural activities (with the expansion of water‐intensive horticultural crops) and climate (decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature) has broken the environmental equilibrium of the plain, causing groundwater lowering, spring exhaustion, decreased canal discharge in summer and groundwater pollution risks connected with fertiliser and pesticide use.
New data on water usage and farming made it possible to develop a new “integrated” water budget of the plain, taking into account the impact of human activities on the water cycle. Monitoring of the main well fields, of crop distribution and of natural discharge in canals and springs, will enable better management of local water resources, reducing their exploitation during the irrigation season. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.