The research group focuses on the assessment of groundwater resources in different contexts from mountain to the plain areas, in particular when the growth of urban areas and industrial and irrigation needs turn into an increase in demand for water resources. This pressure involves an appropriate groundwater management focused on the concept of groundwater sustainability. That means preservation of the natural replenishment of the aquifer, position and rate of withdrawals, development of conjunctive use of surface-ground water, preservation and maintenance of water quality, response of groundwater systems under climate change.

The research area also concerns some natural and anthropogenic groundwater contaminations present in NE Italy, in particular, the presence of natural arsenic contamination linked to peculiar materials and redox conditions. Emerging contaminants such as PFAS are also considered. Sustainability of groundwater resources and the contaminant propagation are approached both by geostatistical prediction and by conceptual and numerical models.

Professors coordinating and developing projects related to this research pathway: Paolo Fabbri, Leonardo Piccinini, Giorgio Cassiani, Jacopo Boaga