Spatial multivariate analysis for a global measure of aquifer salt contamination

Several environmental studies carried out in the last decades, aim at developing methodologies for the management and safeguard of groundwater resources, especially in those areas where surface water resources are totaly absent. In Lecce district (Italy), the quality and quantity of the water in the deep aquifer is endangered by both the phenomenon of urbanization and long periods of drought. Moreover, in this area the problems of groundwater exploitation and pollution are significantly increased because of salt contamination caused by seawater intrusion. In this paper, the concentrations of three water chemical constituents, which are indicative of salt contamination level, have been studied. Geostatistical and classical multivariate techniques have been used, in order to define a global measure of salt pollution and estimate values of this measure at non-sampled locations over the domain of interest.