What future for Lazio’s lakes of Alban Hills? The situation of the Albano’s Lake

Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular part of the country. This region is characterized by several crises and the most compromised are well known and include for example the the volcanic districts aquifers and the coastal aquifers. One of the most complex and crucial situation is represented by the Alban Hills, a volcanic complex situated in the southeast of Rome. In this area, the balance of volcanic and hydrological systems is changed by levies that are characterised by disturbing effects on the quantity and the quality of water resources. Nowadays, the current regime of exploitation of this resources is causing a progressive lowering of the Albano Lake’s water level, causing severe environmental damages, additional to the recent phenomena of "water crisis". It is well known that in the last twenty years, in this area, the high indiscriminate use of water resources has implied the lowering of both the piezometric surface and the lakes level; the drying up of many wells and springs; an overall net decrease in the river flow caused by the volcanic area slopes. These events, together with the evidence of the depletion of aquifers, require urgent coordinated actions and specific studies for the quantification and management of water withdrawals. In this paper, the particular situation of Albano Lake, studied in the “Piano di Tutela Quantitativa (P.T.Q.) del Sistema Idrogeologico dei Colli Albani”, is presented, trying to focus on the balance factors that have brought the hydrological crisis in order to individuate possible future actions to mitigate the water crisis problem.