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Climate change and the necessity to preserve and provide good quality freshwater for human consumption has led researchers to study the aquifers of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (NE Italy) in more detail. Of particular interest is the crossborder Soča/Isonzo River, which contributed to the creation of a remarkable alluvial aquifer. Today more than 300.000 inhabitants are supplied by water withdrawals from AcegasApsAmga Hera Group and the IrisAcqua water companies, the water wells of which are located in the southern part of the afore mentioned aquifer. Taking into consideration the importance of this area for the inhabitants, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the actual use of the water resource, the necessity has arisen to compute a groundwater balance.

The paper presents the map of intrinsic groundwater vulnerability of the Isonzo/Soča High Plain, which is located between the Collio Hills and the Classical Karst Region and holds an aquifer shared between Italy and Slovenia. The map, produced at a scale of 1:25,000 and printed in A0 format, was obtained by means of the SINTACS method and shows the intrinsic vulnerability of the aquifer in terms of seven vulnerability classes, from extremely high to low. It is accompanied by four supplementary sketches that illustrate the geological framework, the bedrock top surface, the groundwater flow paths, the Hazard Index map and three diagrams that summarize the percentages of vulnerability classes and of Hazard Index classes of the study area.