«Planning on the use of water resources in Sardinia has favored, until now, the creation of artificial basins, yet groundwater can represent a fundamental resource for water supply , especially in regions like Sardinia, where irregularity of rainfall and frequent droughts can put the dam system to the test."
This is the proposal that comes from the regional order of geologists to deal with the drought emergency that is especially affecting the Baronia and lower Gallura, with some towns on their knees: San Teodoro, Budoni, Posada, Torpè and Siniscola.
The geologists ask to be able to participate in the strategic table initiated by the President of the Region, Alessandra Todde , to give "an effective and constructive contribution".
In this context, integrating groundwater with surface reserves, according to geologists, «offers a unique opportunity to guarantee a continuous and sustainable water supply over time. Despite this, so far the water supply system continues to be based almost exclusively on the system of artificial reservoirs, effectively precluding the launch of strategic studies that would allow the potential for sustainable use of the underground water resource to be assessed", say the experts. , «Today, this approach contributes to exposing our region to a summer season in which months of real emergencies and water shortages for both production activities and civil uses emerge». The order of geologists reiterates that «a resolution to the problem cannot be found in improvised and extemporaneous solutions conditioned by the emergency, but in planned strategic studies that allow those who have the task of governing the use of the water resource to activate to time and according to established and verified sustainability criteria, mechanisms for mitigating the drought that periodically affects our region". Watermakers, pumping and uncontrolled uses of wells or springs without an adequate technical evaluation that takes into account the maximum flow rates that can be extracted and the natural recharge times of the aquifers, «expose our communities to potential threats far exceeding the expected benefits and, among these , the advance of the salt wedge in coastal aquifers due to pumping that is not correctly designed and planned and the management of brines from desalination plants which are very expensive to dispose of".
