A Hydrometeorological Study of Groundwater Level Changes during the COVID-19 Lockdown Year (Salento Peninsula, Italy)

Maria Rosaria Alfio, Gabriella Balacco, Marco Delle Rose, Corrado Fidelibus and Paolo Martano
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Maria Rosaria Alfio: Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Construction and Chemical Engineering (DICATECh), Polytechnic of Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy
Gabriella Balacco: Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Construction and Chemical Engineering (DICATECh), Polytechnic of Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy
Marco Delle Rose: National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Corrado Fidelibus: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Paolo Martano: National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: The monitoring data of a micrometeorological station in Lecce (Southern Italy, Puglia region, Salento Peninsula) were used with the aim of interpreting the variations in the groundwater level in a shallow aquifer as a function of hydrometeorological forcing. For this scope, the aridity index (AI) was calculated to evaluate the surface-water stress. Although the results indicated a moderate drought during the 2019–2020 hydrological year, a critical situation for the surface hydrological balance in the first quarter of 2020 did not occur. Therefore, the reduction in the groundwater level measured in April can be ascribed to the excessive domestic water consumption that occurred during the lockdown for COVID-19.

Keywords: groundwater level; aridity index; drought; COVID-19 (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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