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Water management problems in a karst flood-prone endorheic basin

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Abstract

In this note, a case history of improper water management in an endorheic karst basin is described with specific reference to the effect of treated wastewater on the functioning of drainage receptors. The basin is the Asso Torrent basin (Apulia region, Italy), crossed by a dendritic channel system, tributary of a set of swallow holes. The discharge into the channels of effluents deriving from sewage treatment plants (STPs) was designed about 30 years ago to increase recharge for the main regional groundwater system, a deep karstic limestone aquifer subjected to seawater intrusion. However, during this time, number and magnitude of the flood events have increased, with repeated damages to urban and rural areas. Floods depend on several causes, whose identification has required hydrological–geomorphological study, the evaluation of runoff, and the assessment of the contaminant load of the STP effluents. The results of the runoff model suggest the inability to drain storm events even in absence of clogging phenomena. Four out of five STPs are undersized and, especially in summer, discharge larger amounts of suspended solids and nutrients, thus increasing the clogging of the swallow holes. In addition, increasing of intense rain events has exacerbated the problem. As a whole, such issues confirm the necessity to skip the old water paradigms based on the assumption of stationarity of the hydrologic variables (i.e., rainfall and rain intensity) and the building of centralized water infrastructures. Examining the site-specific issues, insights are gained that may help avoid unpleasant environmental consequences in similar hydro-geomorphological settings.

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Notes

  1. Karst terminology according to USEPA (2002).

  2. Vora from Latin vorare, meaning “swallow,” or from Latin gurgus, “whirlpool”.

  3. Endorheic is a basin that normally retains runoff within the watershed.

  4. It is the opposite of an endorheic drainage basin. In this case, runoff flows out of the watershed.

  5. Rain data of the weather service are not available. The 6th of March, 2015, a private rain gauge station located at Galatone (see Fig. 2) measured 31.0 mm/day.

  6. Personal gas detectors revealed Hydrogen Sulphide emission.

  7. This value is presumptive and is based on observations concerning both the opening of the gate and the flow through a grid that is put just upstream the mouth of Vora Colucce (see Fig. 3).

  8. VAPI is the acronym of “VAlutazione delle Piene in Italia” (assessment of flood flows in Italy), a project research funded by the Italian National Research Council.

  9. Data extracted from the Plan for Water Protection of the Apulia Region (Piano di Tutela delle Acque) drawn up by Regione Puglia (2009).

  10. The basin authority periodically upgrades the regional Hydrogeological Management Plan (Piano di Assetto Idrogeologico della Puglia, in Italian). Figure 8 belongs to the 2017 upgrade.

Abbreviations

BOD:

Biochemical oxygen demand

CN:

Curve number

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

d :

Per-capita supplied water

g 0 :

Initial potential infiltration capacity

g c :

Asymptotic infiltration

f(t):

Infiltration capacity at time t

i :

Rainfall intensity

IDF:

Intensity–duration–frequency

k :

Horton infiltration

PC:

Plant capacity

Q :

Flow rate

R A :

Runoff

R B :

Net rainfall intensity

R C :

Rainfall intensity

R D :

Infiltration

SP:

Served population

t :

Rainfall duration; time

TCEV:

Two-component extreme value

TP:

Total phosphorus

TN:

Total nitrogen

TDS:

Total dissolved solids

TSS:

Total suspended solids

W :

Runoff volume

W up :

Upstream overflow volume

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Acknowledgements

Topographic features of Fig. 4 and photos of Fig. 5 were kindly provided from the “Gruppo Speleologico Neretino” speleologists. Height of rainfall values are available at the website http://meteosts.altervista.org (consulted on March 15, 2017). This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, Edile e di Chimica, Politecnico di Bari, via E. Orabona 4, Bari, Italy

    C. Apollonio & D. Spasiano

  2. Istituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Complesso Ecotekne, Via per Monteroni, Lecce, Italy

    M. Delle Rose

  3. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Università del Salento, Complesso Ecotekne, Via per Monteroni, Lecce, Italy

    C. Fidelibus

  4. Studio Orlanducci, via B. Realino 14, Lecce, Italy

    L. Orlanducci

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  1. C. Apollonio
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Apollonio, C., Delle Rose, M., Fidelibus, C. et al. Water management problems in a karst flood-prone endorheic basin. Environ Earth Sci 77, 676 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7866-8

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