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Titel |
Recharging the phreatic aquifer in the upper Friuli plain, Italy, by a large infiltration basin |
VerfasserIn |
Daniel Nieto, Alessandro Affatato, Tiago Carvalho, Anna Ziska Gutz, Jose Martin Carvalho, Giorgio Mattassi, Davide Brandolin, Massimo Canali, Stefano Bongiovanni, Nicola Castelletto, Pietro Teatini |
Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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Medientyp |
Artikel
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Sprache |
Englisch
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Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
Datensatznummer |
250083468
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Zusammenfassung |
Even though the Friuli Region, northern Italy, is one of Italy’s rainiest areas with an
average yearly rainfall that ranges between 1300 mm along the cost up to 3000
mm at the Alps foothills, the groundwater level is continuously decreasing over
the last years. To cope with this reduction of water availability and increase the
subsurface storage of high-quality surficial waters that usually are lost during winter
flowing into the northern Adriatic Sea, an artificial recharge project is ongoing within
the WARBO LIFE+ Project funded by EU. WARBO is aimed at implementing
large-scale use of artificial recharge in Italy where water directives still strongly limit
its application. The project involves regional authorities and public and private
stakeholders operating in the field of water management and treatment with the aim of
guaranteeing the future application of the defined methods and the development of
specific experimental protocols to overcome the boundaries posed by the current
legislation.
In this context, the Mereto recharge site selected in the upper Fruili plain is emblematic.
Here a large infiltration basin, about 6 m deep and 45Ã7 m2 wide, was built in the early
2000s but the use was prohibited by law soon after the construction. Only recently, within the
WARBO Project, the possibility of implementing the recharge has been allowed. The site is
characterized by an elevation of 105 m above msl and the depth to the water table averages 50
m. Below a few meter-thick organic soil, the aquifer is composed by coarse deposits with an
estimated thickness of 225 m and an average vertical hydraulic conductivity equal to 10-4
m/s. A 0.1 m3/s infiltration flow has been preliminary estimated (corresponding to an
infiltration rate of 60 cm/h), with the water availability that is guaranteed during
winter period by an irrigation channel connected to the Tagliamento and Ledra
River.
The contribution describes the geophysical investigations and in-situ tests carried out to
characterize the vadose zone and the unconfined aquifer in the study area and the outcome of
preliminary analytical and numerical computations to predict the effect of the artificial
recharge. The results of these investigations will greatly reduce the hydrogeological
knowledge gaps and will be used to fine tune the recharge program and to define
the monitoring concept. This contribution aims to provide a methodology for the
implementation of managed aquifer recharge programs using existing structures. |
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