The Anthropic Pressure on the Grey Water Footprint: The Case of the Vulnerable Areas of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy

Diego Voccia, Giacomo Mortella, Federico Ferrari, Maria Chiara Fontanella, Marco Trevisan and Lucrezia Lamastra ()
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Diego Voccia: Department of Sustainable Food Process, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29122 Piacenza, Italy
Giacomo Mortella: Department of Sustainable Food Process, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29122 Piacenza, Italy
Federico Ferrari: Aeiforia S.r.l, 29027 Piacenza, Italy
Maria Chiara Fontanella: Department of Sustainable Food Process, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29122 Piacenza, Italy
Marco Trevisan: Department of Sustainable Food Process, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29122 Piacenza, Italy
Lucrezia Lamastra: Department of Sustainable Food Process, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29122 Piacenza, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: Nitrogen (N) is an important component of plant development, yet its application and contamination are a global issue. Diffuse source pollution and its effects on ecosystem health are notoriously difficult to track and control. This paper answers the Sustainable development Goal 6 goal focused on reducing water pollution by improving the understanding of nitrate emissions to groundwater and their resulting water pollution level in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy. The Grey water footprint (GWF) and water pollution level (WPL) were used as indicators and geospatial maps were constructed in order to determine if N levels exceeded groundwater quality demand from 2014 to 2020. Moreover, a selection of specific agricultural sites in the Piacenza district has been performed to better understand the potential anthropogenic nitrate pollution due to the agricultural sector. In the selected sites, the predicted nitrate pollution due to agricultural practice has been compared with the nitrate concentration measured in samples collected across the period 2015–2018. The regional results show that approximately 70% of the analysed sites resulted in a total N load exceeding the estimated agricultural load to groundwater. The analysis conducted in three selected wells in the Piacenza district shows the sporadic exceedances of the legal limit and demonstrates the presence of anthropogenic pressures of various natures insisting on the surrounding area and confirms a potential non-agricultural point or diffuse pollution source.

Keywords: grey water footprint; water pollution level; nitrogen; pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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