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.
Agricultural Changes Affecting Water Availability: from Abundance to Scarcity (Fucino Plain, Central Italy) / E., Burri; Petitta, Marco. - STAMPA. - 53:3(2005), pp. 287-299. (Intervento presentato al convegno Proceedings XIX° Intern. Congress International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID). tenutosi a Beijing; Peoples R China nel September 2005).
Agricultural Changes Affecting Water Availability: from Abundance to Scarcity (Fucino Plain, Central Italy).
PETITTA, Marco
2005
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.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
