scholarly journals Assessing Specific Vulnerability of Shallow Aquifers to Pesticide Using GIS Tools. Data Needs and Reliability of Index-Overlay Methods: An Application to the San Giuliano Terme Agricultural Area (Pisa, Italy)

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 985
Author(s):  
Rudy Rossetto ◽  
Tiziana Sabbatini ◽  
Nicola Silvestri
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Aquifer Vulnerability ◽  
Agricultural Area ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Vulnerability Index Method ◽  
Index Overlay ◽  
The Cost

Pesticides play a crucial role in regulating crop production by reducing crop losses and increasing crop yield and quality. However, they may threaten surface and groundwater, a phenomenon occurring at global scale, potentially causing environmental damage and prohibition of water use or high treatment costs for drinking water. Assessing spatially-defined aquifer vulnerability to pesticide is then important, as it may allow defining agricultural areas where pesticides should be used following well-defined agronomic practices/limitations. In this study, after a brief review of recent studies on aquifer vulnerability assessment to pesticide, we applied the Vulnerability Index method to the agricultural area of the Municipality of San Giuliano Terme (Pisa, Italy) in order to focus on the data needs and discuss the reliability of this method (as an example of index-overlay methods). The proposed method needs a relatively small number of parameters compared to other more complex ones. Despite a such a small number of parameters, some were not easily available in our case study. Thus, some assumptions were made. This led to vulnerability maps with reduced reliability, no validation with groundwater samples, and little practical use. This means that to produce robust but static vulnerability assessments, large datasets are needed. In turn, the cost of data gathering may be high. The value of these data may, however, be increased, and the cost better justified if the analyses are based on process-based or advanced statistical methods. While the future for vulnerability assessment methods is the use of process-based/advanced statistical methods, index-overlay methods, as a preliminary step for process-based simulation analysis, may still provide initial and relatively quick insights on potential leaching of pesticides. This in turn may support extension services in delivering timely and relevant advices on the use of such pesticides to farmers and owners of plant nurseries and greenhouses.

scholarly journals A Modified AVI Model for Groundwater Vulnerability Mapping: Case Studies in Southern Italy

Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Daniela Ducci ◽  
Mariangela Sellerino
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Groundwater Vulnerability ◽  
Aquifer Vulnerability ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Time Dimension ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Vulnerability Index Method ◽  
Hydrogeological Characteristics ◽  
Groundwater Vulnerability Mapping

Many methods for evaluating the aquifer’s vulnerability to pollution have been developed in the past four decades by using geographic information system (GIS) tools. However, even if the aquifer vulnerability concept is well defined and the methods have been constantly tested and compared, the problem of the choice of the best “standard” method remains. To meet these objectives, aquifer vulnerability maps are of crucial importance. The choice of method depends on several factors, including the scale of the project, the hydrogeological characteristics of the area, and data availability. Among the many methods, the AVI (Aquifer Vulnerability Index) method has been widely used as it considers only two physical parameters. The AVI Index represents the hydraulic resistance of an aquifer to vertical flow, as a ratio between the thickness of each sedimentary unit above the uppermost aquifer (D, length), and the estimated hydraulic conductivity (K, length/time) of each of these layers. The AVI Index has a time dimension and is divided into five classes. In order to avoid a widespread presence of the higher vulnerability classes, especially in shallow aquifers, the AVI classification has been modified using statistical methods. The study reports the application of the modified AVI method for groundwater pollution vulnerability, in three different areas of southern Italy, highlighting the limitations of the method in alluvial aquifers and the differences with other methods.

Deferring Crisis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Stewart Mauldin
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Shifting Cultivation ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Antebellum South ◽  
Westward Expansion ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Land Use Practices ◽  
Ecological Regime

This chapter explores the ecological regime of slavery and the land-use practices employed by farmers across the antebellum South. Despite the diverse ecologies and crop regimes of the region, most southern farmers employed a set of extensive agricultural techniques that kept the cost of farming down and helped circumvent natural limits on crop production and stock-raising. The use of shifting cultivation, free-range animal husbandry, and slaves to perform erosion control masked the environmental impacts of farmers’ actions, at least temporarily. Debates over westward expansion during the sectional crisis of the 1850s were not just about the extension of slavery, they also reflected practical concerns regarding access to new lands and fresh soil. Both were necessary for the continued profitability of farming in the South.

scholarly journals The Influence of Opencast Lignite Mining Dehydration on Plant Production—A Methodological Study

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1917
Author(s):  
Benedykt Pepliński ◽  
Wawrzyniec Czubak
Keyword(s):  
Brown Coal ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
External Costs ◽  
Opencast Mines ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Potato Yields ◽  
Burning Coal ◽  
Depression Cone ◽  
The Cost

In many circles, brown coal continues to be viewed as a cheap source of energy, resulting in numerous investments in new opencast brown coal mines. Such a perception of brown coal energy is only possible if the external costs associated with mining and burning coal are not considered. In past studies, external cost analysis has focused on the external costs of coal burning and associated emissions. This paper focuses on the extraction phase and assesses the external costs to agriculture associated with the resulting depression cone. This paper discusses the difficulties researchers face in estimating agricultural losses resulting from the development of a depression cone due to opencast mineral extraction. In the case of brown coal, the impacts are of a geological, natural-climatic, agricultural-productive, temporal, and spatial nature and result from a multiplicity of interacting factors. Then, a methodology for counting external costs in crop production was proposed. The next section estimates the external costs of crop production arising from the operation of opencast mines in the Konin-Turek brown coal field, which is located in central Poland. The analyses conducted showed a large decrease in grain and potato yields and no effect of the depression cone on sugar beet levels. Including the estimated external costs in the cost of producing electricity from mined brown coal would significantly worsen the profitability of that production.

Seafood processing wastes as nutrient sources for crop production

2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A MacLeod ◽  
S. Kuo ◽  
T L Gallant ◽  
M. Grimmett
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Hydrated Lime ◽  
Organic N ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Nutrient Sources ◽  
Processing Wastes ◽  
Crop Nutrients ◽  
Seafood Processing

Large quantities of wastes are generated in the processing of seafood such as shellfish, crustaceans and finfish. These materials contain appreciable amounts of plant nutrients which may be useful in cropping programs. Under some conditions the waste materials can be directly applied to soil but in other situations stabilization may be necessary. The method of stabilization will influence the availability of nutrients in various cropping programs. Composting with wood can effectively stabilize the waste but the slow mineralization of organic N can limit the usefulness of the compost. Combining the waste with calcium oxide (CaO) or hydrated lime [Ca(OH)2] can produce a stable material with good nutrient availability. If application rates of various wastes are based on their nutrient content, the nutrient requirement of specific crops, and the heavy metal concentrations, then potential environmental problems associated with excess nutrient and heavy metal loadings can be minimized. Application of these materials to land can effectively supply nutrients to crops and minimize environmental damage due to inappropriate methods of disposal. Key words:Seafood waste, composting, lime stabilization, crop nutrients

Application of a GIS-based DRASTIC model and groundwater quality index method for evaluation of groundwater vulnerability: a case study, Sefid-Dasht

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 784-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nastaran Khodabakhshi ◽  
Gholamreza Asadollahfardi ◽  
Nima Heidarzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Major Ions ◽  
Groundwater Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Aquifer Vulnerability ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Drastic Model ◽  
Groundwater Quality Index ◽  
The North

Pollution control and removal of pollutants from groundwater are a challenging and expensive task. The aims of this paper are to determine the aquifer vulnerability of Sefid-Dasht, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, using the DRASTIC model. In addition, the groundwater quality index (GQI) technique was applied to assess the groundwater quality and study the spatial variability of major ion concentrations using a geographic information system (GIS). The vulnerability index ranged from 65 to 132, classified into two classes: low and moderate vulnerability. In the southern part of the aquifer, the vulnerability was moderate. Furthermore, the results indicate that the magnitude of the GQI index varies from 92% to 95%. This means the water has a suitable quality. However, from the north to the south and southwest of the aquifer, the water quality has been deteriorating, and the highest concentration of major ions was found in the southwest of the Sefid-Dasht aquifer. A comparison of the vulnerability maps with the GQI index map indicated a poor relation between them. In the DRASTIC method, movement of groundwater is not considered and may be the reason for such inconsistency. However, the movement of groundwater can transport contaminants.

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