Biomaterial Database

A methodology for rapid assessment of the environmental status of the shallow aquifer of "Tavoliere di Puglia" (Southern Italy). 2011

Rita Masciale, and Emanuele Barca, and Giuseppe Passarella

Water Research Institute of the National Research Council, IRSA-CNR, Viale F. De Blasio, 5-70123 Bari, Italy.

Anticipating the European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), the Italian Government issued Legislative Decree n.152/99 which sets out rules for classifying the environmental status of national water bodies in order to achieve specific qualitative objectives by 2016. The most recent European Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC), which was only recognized by Italy in early 2009 (Legislative Decree 30/09), requires such resources to be characterized from a qualitative standpoint and the risk of their being polluted by individual pollutants or groups of pollutants to be evaluated. This paper reports a simple methodology, based on easy-to-apply rules, for the rapid classification of groundwater, and the results of its application to the shallow aquifer of the plain of Tavoliere delle Puglie located in south Italy. Data collected during well-water monitoring campaigns carried out from 2002 to 2003 made it possible to assess the environmental status of the Tavoliere which, unfortunately, was found to be characterized by "significant anthropic pressures on quality and/or quantity of groundwater and necessitating specific improvement actions".

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007558	Italy	A country in southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia. The capital is Rome.	Sardinia
D004784	Environmental Monitoring	The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment.	Monitoring, Environmental,Environmental Surveillance,Surveillance, Environmental
D014874	Water Pollutants, Chemical	Chemical compounds which pollute the water of rivers, streams, lakes, the sea, reservoirs, or other bodies of water.	Chemical Water Pollutants,Landfill Leachate,Leachate, Landfill,Pollutants, Chemical Water
D014877	Water Pollution, Chemical	Adverse effect upon bodies of water (LAKES; RIVERS; seas; groundwater etc.) caused by CHEMICAL WATER POLLUTANTS.	Chemical Water Pollution,Chemical Water Pollutions,Pollution, Chemical Water,Pollutions, Chemical Water,Water Pollutions, Chemical
D014881	Water Supply	Means or process of supplying water (as for a community) usually including reservoirs, tunnels, and pipelines and often the watershed from which the water is ultimately drawn. (Webster, 3d ed)	Supplies, Water,Supply, Water,Water Supplies
D018570	Risk Assessment	The qualitative or quantitative estimation of the likelihood of adverse effects that may result from exposure to specified health hazards or from the absence of beneficial influences. (Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 1988)	Assessment, Risk,Benefit-Risk Assessment,Risk Analysis,Risk-Benefit Assessment,Health Risk Assessment,Risks and Benefits,Analysis, Risk,Assessment, Benefit-Risk,Assessment, Health Risk,Assessment, Risk-Benefit,Benefit Risk Assessment,Benefit-Risk Assessments,Benefits and Risks,Health Risk Assessments,Risk Analyses,Risk Assessment, Health,Risk Assessments,Risk Benefit Assessment,Risk-Benefit Assessments