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The water on a small karst island: the island of Korčula (Croatia) as an example

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Abstract

The island of Korčula, which has an area of 271.47 km2 is located along the north-eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. Due to the Mediterranean climate, size and karst geology its water resources are very scarce. This paper describes the natural features of the island (air temperature, precipitation, geology, hydrogeology and groundwater) which are important for the water appearance and its distribution in time and space. The water supply of the island has been managed in the following ways: through a pipeline from the mainland, by drawing groundwater and by rain harvesting. Tourism causes high seasonal water needs which are barely met by the existing water supply system. Therefore, present water resource management on the island must be improved. The paper also presents mathematical programming scheme to get optimal costs and benefits of water exploitation on the island. Besides economic aspect, linear programming is applied to social and ecological objectives, as well. This study suggests that island’s water management should be primarily based on wisely using its proper water resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Split, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Matice hrvatske 15, 21000, Split, Croatia

    Ognjen Bonacci & Snježana Knezić

  2. GRAD INVEST, Mosećka 52, 21000, Split, Croatia

    Igor Ljubenkov

Authors
  1. Ognjen Bonacci
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  2. Igor Ljubenkov
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  3. Snježana Knezić
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Correspondence to Ognjen Bonacci.

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Bonacci, O., Ljubenkov, I. & Knezić, S. The water on a small karst island: the island of Korčula (Croatia) as an example. Environ Earth Sci 66, 1345–1357 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1345-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1345-9

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