Interaction between surface and subsurface in the water resources management: the case of the plain between Brenta and Piave

The attention of scientific communities towards water resources management has increased over the years, prompting international authorities to develop general standards, and researchers to find answers and solutions to preserve water resources. To anticipate consequences of a changing environment and to suggest policies to cor-rectly manage and use surface water and groundwater in a sustainable way, proper knowledge of the environ-ment and new tools are thus required. This work describes a project that aims at assessing and forecasting the groundwater balance and the spatiotemporal behaviour of fluxes in an area located in the middle-high venetian plain (Italy) between Brenta and Piave rivers. The area is heavily exploited for agricultural purposes with a com-plex interaction between artificial channels used for irrigation, natural rivers, and aquifers. Over the years, the irrigation practice is gradually switching from surface to sprinkler to satisfy the Ecological Flows requirements. However, due to reduced infiltration, the aquifers are provided with less recharge and this, together with increas-ing anthropogenic activities, threatens water resources. To analyse the impact of future irrigation policies and de-fine at the regional scale the water contamination risk, a numerical model of the aquifer system is under devel-opment and was here used to verify the consistence between numerical results and available geological and hy-drological data. A first estimation of the hydrological balance is also developed to gather insights on the main physical processes occurring in the area. The model potentials, together with its limitations that need to be over-come, are here presented.