A Hydrometeorological Study of Groundwater Level Changes during the COVID-19 Lockdown Year (Salento Peninsula, Italy)

Maria Rosaria Alfio,Paolo Martano,Gabriella Balacco,Marco Delle Rose,Corrado Fidelibus

doi:10.3390/su14031710

Abstract

The monitoring data of a micrometeorological station in Lecce (Southern Italy, Puglia region, Salento Peninsula) were used with the aim of interpreting the variations in the groundwater level in a shallow aquifer as a function of hydrometeorological forcing. For this scope, the aridity index (AI) was calculated to evaluate the surface-water stress. Although the results indicated a moderate drought during the 2019–2020 hydrological year, a critical situation for the surface hydrological balance in the first quarter of 2020 did not occur. Therefore, the reduction in the groundwater level measured in April can be ascribed to the excessive domestic water consumption that occurred during the lockdown for COVID-19.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic is radically impacting the lives of millions of people around the world, and the consequent restrictions adopted by each government drastically changed lifestyles, economic activities, working routines, and hygiene practices [1,2]
In the recent definition adopted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), aridity index (AI) is expressed as the ratio between two hydrological indicators, the precipitation P and the potential evapotranspiration PET [30]; in formula: P
From the analysis of the meteorological observations of the ISAC-CNR Micrometeorological Station (IMS), one may state that the hydrological years 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 were wetter than the year 2019–2020

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic is radically impacting the lives of millions of people around the world, and the consequent restrictions adopted by each government drastically changed lifestyles, economic activities, working routines, and hygiene practices [1,2]. This global situation generated a cascade effect on financial [3], economic [4], public-perception [5], and environmental issues [6,7]. According to [9], the values of both the Standardized

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion