Environmental impact of water resource use in the Fucino Plain (Central Italy) – first aspect: water and farming

The Fucino plain is one of Italy’s largest intermontane basins. It derives from a land reclamation project, which involved the homonymous lake and its ancient bottom (average surface 155 km2). The overall area, originally very fertile thanks to its lacustrine silts, is now used for farming. This use has generated a major environmental impact, of which two aspects are covered here: i) the relationship between water withdrawal and farming; and ii) water contamination from massive use of pesticides and fertilisers.The first aspect concerns the use of water for farming, as water demand for sprinkler irrigation exceeds by far natural water supply. Indeed, following the latest trends in agricultural production, farmers have increasingly shifted towards more profitable horticultural crops, such as carrot, salads, “radicchio”, fennel, celery, etc. This choice has been favoured by a number of factors: very high unit yield; large availability of non-EU low-cost labour; mechanisation of agricultural practices; higher entrepreneurship of farmers; and option of repeating two/three crop cycles on the same plot of land. To cover the higher water requirements, a growing number of wells have been drilled and withdrawal from these wells has intensified, thus depleting water resources.

Keywords:

Agriculture , hydrogeology , water management , monitoring , reclamation , Central Italy