An Integrated Approach for the Environmental Characterization of a Wide Potentially Contaminated Area in Southern Italy.

This paper deals with the environmental characterization of a large and densely populated area, with a poor reputation for contamination, considering the contribution of environmental features (air, soil, soil hydraulic and groundwater) and the potential effects on human health. The use of Geographic Information System (GIS) has made possible a georeferenced inventory and, by overlaying environmental information, an operational synthesis of comprehensive environmental conditions. The cumulative effects on environmental features were evaluated, taking into account superposition effects, by means of the Spatial MultiCriteria Decision Analysis (S-MCDA).

Combining natural background levels (NBLs) assessment with indicator kriging analysis to improve groundwater quality data interpretation and management.

The natural background level (NBL) concept is revisited and combined with indicator kriging method to analyze the spatial distribution of groundwater quality within a groundwater body (GWB). The aim is to provide a methodology to easily identify areas with the same probability of exceeding a given threshold (which may be a groundwater quality criteria, standards, or recommended limits for selected properties and constituents). Three case studies with different hydrogeological settings and located in two countries (Portugal and Italy) are used to derive NBL using the preselection method and validate the proposed methodology illustrating its main advantages over conventional statistical water quality analysis.

Vulnerability mapping of groundwater contamination based on 3D lithostratigraphical models of porous aquifers.

The aim of this paper is to apply a methodology in order to reconstruct a lithostratigraphic 3D model of an aquifer so as to define some parameters involved in the evaluation of the aquifer vulnerability to contamination of porous aquifers. The DRASTIC, SINTACS and AVI methods have been applied to an alluvial coastal aquifer of southern Italy. The stratigraphic reconstruction has been obtained by interpolating stratigraphic data from more than one borehole per 2 km.