The effects of irrigation on groundwater quality and quantity in a human-modified hydro-system: The Oglio River basin, Po Plain, northern Italy

For several hundred years, farming in the Po Plain of Italy (46,000 km2, 20 million inhabitants) has been supported by intensive surface irrigation with lake and river water. Despite the longevity of irrigation, its effects on the quality and quantity of groundwater is poorly known and so is investigated here through seasonal measurements of hydraulic heads and water quality in groundwaters, rivers, lake, springs and rainwaters. In the north of...