Hydrogeological aspects of Lombard Prealps karstification (northern Italy)

Abstract

At the present time the data regarding the behaviour of the main Lombard hydrogeological basins do not seem to be enough in order to deal with their management in a detailed manner, especially as regards to the recent gradual drying up of many springs, low discharge during dry months and perennial springs becoming seasonal that were reported all across the Italian Alps and Prealps; it's thus seemed useful to propose at first an arrangement of the dynamics of the Lombard hydrogeological systems based on the existing knowledge of some parameters which allow to classify their behaviour. To this aim, without enough data for a complete mathematical modelling, the relationships between the springs discharges and the recharge are proposed to be defined through a simplified approach, based on an analytic elementary model able to quantify the groundwater flow in a multiaquifer system knowing its permeability. The comparison of the results obtained in this way with the conclusions obtained with the use of more complex mathematical models has yielded encouraging hints for the time being, especially with reference to the possibility of forecasting water resources shortages, as they will probably became more and more frequent in the future, both for the overexploitation of the groundwater resources and chiefly for climatic changes.