Variazioni climatiche e rischi di depauperamento delle falde e di desertificazione in provincia di Taranto

During the geological history the climate has been subject to really strong variations occurred also during the Quaternary Age. Recent study has shown that, still today, there are climatic changes that may give a significant influence on the environment and on hydrogeological risks also because can be the cause of desertification processes. A long series (more than one century) of rainfall data from Taranto area in Southern Italy has been analyzed to find the climatic change trends in this area. To analyze the data has been used the variation of the average value over a period of thirty years, so to remove the influence of the natural variation of climate phenomena. The analysis have show that rainfall has a trend of reduction, while the hydrological surplus (rainfall minus evapotraspiration) that indicate the amount of water that is available for run-off and infiltration to recharging groundwater resources is subject to a reduction more that 50%. If we consider that this value is the average value over a period of thirty years, it means that groundwater resources are decreasing while the water demand increase because rainfall decreasing. It is a situation that involve large risk from the point of view of environment and groundwater degradation and for the beginning of desertification processes.