Ambient Science: Click the Volume and issue number for Complete Article

Location where to get the Complete Article --> Ambient Science: Vol 1, No 2 (2014): 26-35

ISSN- 2348-5191 (Print version); 2348-8980 (Online)

Tracing the Sources of Pollution of Wells and Karst springs Supplying Water to the City of Ragusa, South-Eastern Sicily



Rosario Ruggieri

Abstract

The present study deals with the pollution which has occured in two important karst springs, supplying the acqueduct of Ragusa city in Italy. Both springs show higher values of ammonia and the presence of pathogenic bacteria, elements ascribable to wastewater of animal origin. This investigations identified a number of farms present within the springs protected areas which likely have caused the pollution. At these farm was imposed by ordinances to build adequate storage tanks for the animal wastewater. Paradoxically, the construction of such tanks led to a further worsening of the state of pollution, as the latter from episodic, linked to rainfall, became continuous due to the overflowing of wastewater from the tanks never emptied, as it was ascertained. A geological and geochemical study, preparatory to the execution of tracer tests, allowed a hydrogeological characterization of the recharge area and the definition of the hydrologic regime of the springs, that in this case, resulted as interconnected. Follow-up tests with fluorescent tracers, carried out on a few farms, were then interrupted due to the non-cooperation from one of the farm owners. From that moment on, every research for the origin of the pollutant gets stop and the situation gets worse, both in terms of environment and for the resulting pollution of two municipal drinking water wells placed at the confluence of the Ciaramite stream valley with the Irminio river. After passing 3 years of the polluting event, despite the ordinances issued by the City Hall towards a number of livestock farms who did not comply with the collection of waste and its disposal, as a result the collectivity have assisted to the loss of a spring and the ecological degradation of the Ciaramite stream valley.


References

  • Benischke R., Goldscheider N. & Smart C.C. (2007): Tracer techniques. In: Goldscheider N. & Drew D. (Eds.) – Methods in Karst Hydrogeology. International Contributions to Hydrogeology. Taylor & Francis, London, UK: 147-170.
  • Behrens H., Beims U.,·Dieter H.,. Dietze G., Eikmann T., ·Grummt T.,· Hanisch H., ·Henseling H., Käß W., Kerndorff H.,·Leibundgut C., Müller-Wegener U., Rönnefahrt I.,. Scharenberg · B.,. Schleyer R.,·Schloz · W. & Tilkes F (2001): Toxicological and ecotoxicological assessment of water tracers. Hydrogeology Journal, 9:321-325.
  • Field M. S. (2003): A review of some trace-test design equations for tracer-mass estimation and sample-collection frequency. Environmental Geology, 43:867-881.
  • Goldscheider N., Meiman J., Pronk M. & Smart C. (2008): Tracer tests in karst hydrogeology and speleology. International Journal of Speleology, 37 (1): 27-40.
  • Grasso M. & Ben-Avraham, Z. (1992): Magnetic study of the Northen margin of the Hyblean Plateau, SouthEastern Sicily: structural implications. Annales Tectonicae, VI(2): 202-213.
  • Grasso M., Pedley H.M., Maniscalco R. & Ruggieri, R. (2000): Geological context and explanatory notes of the “Carta Geologica del settore centro-meridionale dell'Altopiano Ibleo”. Mem. Soc. Geol. It., 55 : 45-52.
  • Käss W. (1998):. Tracer technique in geohydrology, Balkema, Rotterdam, 581 p.
  • Kogovšek J. & PetrièM., (2010): Tracer tests as a tool for planning the monitoring of negative impacts of the Mozelj landfill (Se Slovenia) on karst waters. Acta Carsologica, 39/2: 301-311.
  • Martel E.A. (1913). Sur les expériences de fluorescéine à grandes distances. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie de Sciences, 157: 1102-1104.
  • Rigo M.& Barbieri R. (1959):. Stratigrafia pratica applicata in Sicilia. Bollettino del Servizio Geologico d'Italia, 80: 1–92.
  • Ruggieri R. (1997): Problematiche di protezione della risorsa idrica in rocce fessurate e carsificate: la fiumara di Modica e la sorgente Salto di Lepre (Rg), un caso emblematico di inquinamento negli Iblei. Atti del 2° Congresso Regionale dei Geologi di Sicilia, Erice 2-4 ottobre 1997, pp. 91-102.
  • Ruggieri R. (2005): Il sistema idrogeologico del settore centro-meridionale Ibleo (Sicilia sud-orientale). Atti del Convegno "L'acqua che berremo" (2002-2004). Speleologia Iblea, 11: 17-37. Ruggieri R. & Grasso M. (2000): Caratteristiche stratigrafiche e strutturali dell'altipiano Ibleo e sue implicazioni sulla morfogenesi carsica. Speleologia Iblea, 8:19-35.
  • UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (1988): Application of Dye-Tracing Techniques for determining solute-transport characteristics of ground water In karst terranes.
  • UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) (2003):Tracer-Test Planning Using the Efficient Hydrology Tracer-Test Design /EHTD) Program. National Center for Environmental Assessment, Washington, DC; EPA/600/R-03/034.

    • DOI:10.21276/ambi.2014.01.2.ta01

    Creative Commons License

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
    Published by: National Cave Research and Protection Organization, India

    <Environmental Science+Zoology+Geology+Cave Science>AMBIENT SCIENCE