Identification of typical chemical and physical conditions in Apulian groundwater (southern Italy) through well multi-parameter logs

Abstract

Apulia is affected by two types of human-related pollution: salt contamination and chemico-physical and biological pollution. The special severity of the situation calls for a rigorous approach based on available scientific knowledge and supplemented by up-to-date investigations of the evolution of groundwater quality. Particularly useful are to this end the multi-parameter logs which have been executed along the water column of the well, through the monitoring of temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen and oxidation-reduction potential of groundwater. This method, which has been tested in 120 wells over one year, has allowed to detect some typical trends of the parameters under study. These types, which are rather recurrent in space and time, allow an extensive use of the suggested method which can be easily applied to the preliminary detection of the hydrogeological conditions which determine the chemical and physical nature of groundwater and the occurrence of human- or salt-related contamination.