Protection of Water Resources from Agriculture Pollution: An Integrated Methodological Approach for the Nitrates Directive 91–676-EEC Implementation

Abstract

Nitrogen is a vital nutrient helpful to plants and crop growth. However, among the leading causes of water resources pollution is the excess nitrogen from agricultural sources. In European Union countries, the Nitrates Directive has been approved to reduce this problem monitoring of water bodies with regard to nitrate concentrations, designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), and establishing codes of good agricultural practices and measures to prevent and reduce water pollution from nitrates. In light of this, we propose an integrated methodological approach to better manage a environmental issue as the perimeter of NVZs with the prospective that our approach could be used in the future by other member states representing a Best Practice in that direction. The methodology is based on data integration applied in a GIS environment. Different available data representing the knowledge of the territory were harmonised, systematised and georeferenced, in order to increase the environmental framework, preserve the contamination of the water resource and give indications on the measures to be implemented to apply in the best way possible the Nitrates Directive. Finally, it was also possible to overcome the infringement procedure in progress for Italy and the Puglia region and proceed to new designation of NVZs.

Evaluation of water use in agriculture: Problems and solutions

“…According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), water used for irrigation accounts for nearly 65% of the world's freshwater withdrawals, excluding thermoelectric power (MALO, 2020) Some factors that can contribute to and affect water availability of irrigation, as well as the quality: (I) Hereditary scarcity of water in some areas due to the geographic location where the precipitation index is very low, making the use of groundwater not feasible, due to economic reasons and transportation; (II) Increasing the intensity of cultivation on land that has already been cultivated and that consumes more water/unit of cultivated area; (III) Cultivation of crops on virgin lands that require a significant additional amount of water (horizontal expansion of water from irrigated agriculture), where this expansion has deteriorated the quality of groundwater and surface water in places where marginal lands were cultivated without having carried out an adequate management practice; (IV) Significant increase in the volume of good quality water, both industrially and domestically, due to population growth and higher living standards, which require greater demand; (V) Contamination of surface and underground water resources by a variety of point and diffuse sources of pollution. Because of this, agricultural water management must be increasingly integrated with other environmental and water management objectives (MASSARELLI et al, 2021;WANG et al, 2021). In this context, the present work aims to evaluate the problems related to the use of water in agriculture and the solutions that can be implemented.…”

The Use of Weather Radar Data: Possibilities, Challenges and Advanced Applications

“…The Puglia region is located in southern Italy and shows landform depending on structural and geolithological factors. The prevailing morphologic characteristic of the Apulian region is the presence of plains and hills with highly diversified climatic conditions [73]. It is possible to discern the area in five main physiographic areas: Daunian Appennines, Gargano, Tavoliere, high and low Murge and Salento.…”

“…tions [73]. It is possible to discern the area in five main physiographic areas: Daunian Appennines, Gargano, Tavoliere, high and low Murge and Salento.…”

Monitoring of Temporary Ponds as Indicators of Environmental Quality

“…Almost all temporary ponds are shallow, and most can be easily destroyed by drainage works for agricultural or urban development purposes [5]. Their small water volumes influence their high susceptiblity to pollution [6,7], including emerging pollutants such as microplastics (MPs) and pesticides [8,9]. To these threats is added that deriving from a lack of awareness: even if located within protected areas, temporary ponds have not always been evaluated by professionals in the same way as other freshwater ecosystems better known as lakes, rivers, and permanent ponds.…”