Groundwater level trend and water quality in Po valley paddy fields

The well-constructed canal system that runs through the vast plain on the left bank of the river Po, which is confined to the West by the river Dora Baltea, North by the moraine hills and East by the river Ticino, has allowed the development of rice cultivation, requiring a large supply of wa-ter derived from the surrounding natural streams and then its distribution uniformly throughout the territory. This habitat represents an interesting ex-ample of human enterprise that has transformed in time a watery and unhealthy territory into a highly productive agricultural area. The management of water is however a determining element for the maintenance and the development of this region. It is well known that water is a primary vector for the transport of substances in the environment. The irrigation waters and the rain infiltrated into the ground seep through the soil agricultural chemicals into the aquifer. The movement of her-bicides used in growing rice into the groundwater was monitored to determine their fate. The local rate of rise of the groundwater-table, when paddy fields are flooded, is used to define local medium soil conductivity in the vertical di-rection and then local pollution risk.