Groundwater Quality in the Mediterranean Region

• Published in: Geofluids 2019, Vol.2019, p.1-4
• Main Authors: Mongelli, Giovanni, Argyraki, Ariadne, Lorenzo, Mari Luz García, Shammout, Maisa’a Wasif, Paternoster, Michele, Simeone, Vincenzo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural development; Agricultural management; Agriculture; Agrochemicals; Aquatic resources; Aquifers; Aridity; Brines; By-products; Chemical analysis; Climate change; Climate prediction; Coastal aquifers; Contaminants; Contamination; Demographics; Economics; Effluent treatment; Environmental management; Fertilizers; Groundwater; Groundwater data; Groundwater pollution; Groundwater quality; Hydrologic data; Hydrology; Industrial areas; Land resources; Mediterranean region; Oil production; Overexploitation; Pesticides; Phosphates; Phosphogypsum; Population growth; Principal components analysis; Procedures; Quality; Refineries; Saline water; Salt water intrusion; Science; Seawater; Semiarid climates; Statistical analysis; Storage; Sustainability management; Tourism; Wastewater treatment; Water analysis; Water availability; Water conveyance; Water management; Water pollution; Water quality; Water supply; Water use; Water, Underground; Zinc
• ISSN: 1468-8115; 1468-8123
• DOI: 10.1155/2019/7269304

In the Mediterranean area, water availability is a main economic and social target for most countries since most of them share several features including, for instance, similar water and land resources, agricultural development, demographic pressure coupled with tourism increase and, last but not least, a climate change evolving toward semiarid to arid conditions [3–5]. More in detail, overuse of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture, overexploitation of groundwater causing sea water intrusion, increases in the discharge of untreated or poorly treated domestic and industrial water, injection of brine and hydrocarbon by-products from oil production, and refinery operation into aquifers, and naturally occurring contaminants are among the principal causes of groundwater pollution. [...]in the last two decades, many Mediterranean countries planned policies devoted to the assessment of the groundwater quality and trends [11, 12]. In the article titled “Inferred Industrial and Agricultural Activities Impact on Groundwater Quality of Skhira Coastal Phreatic Aquifer in Southeast of Tunisia (Mediterranean Region),” S. Melki et al., using a geochemical approach coupled with statistical procedures through principal component analysis, assessed the processes affecting water quality and showed that the industrial activities, especially those related to phosphate treatment in an area close to a phosphogypsum storage site, may seriously influence a part of the aquifer where the water is acidic and very charged in SO42-, H2PO4-, F-, and Zn2+. According to the presented data on groundwater quality, climate change predictions, the connection of water supply system to the mainland, and problems with the effluent treatment, the main future issue will be the creation of an island-wide sustainable water management plan followed by continuous monitoring and research, in a global scenario where water supply of the islands is a relevant challenge.