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Ausa river: a study-case towards the comprehension of natural processes and anthropic impacts

Organization(s):Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale Malignani, Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale Malignani, Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale Malignani, Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale Malignani
Country:Italy, Italy, Italy, Italy
Student(s):Sara ANGELICO, Greta FOGAR, Leonardo IACOVINO, Federico ROSSI, Asia BURINI
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Teacher:Graziella Mocellin, Paola Zanon, Maria Pia Coceano, Lorella Rigonat
Contributors:
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:
Presentation Poster: View Document
Optional Badges:I make an Impact
Language(s):
Date Submitted:04/03/2017
Ausa river sampling
This project focused on the determination of the water quality of the river Ausa in Cervignano del Friuli (Italy), in order to study the trend of some parameters and to verify the compliance with environmental recommendations coming from European Directives and Italian laws. We decided to analyze both the river Ausa and its main tributary Taglio, in order to look for similarities between the two streams and to study how their characteristics vary seasonally at each station and along the axis, especially after the impact of the town. We first gave a general characterization of the water using parameters such as temperature, pH and conductivity, then we focused on the amount of nitrates, because their excess can give eutrophication of the Marano and Grado Lagoon where our river flows into. Moreover, we performed a microbiological survey with E. Coli test, that is recommended as a measure of ambient recreational fresh water quality as its presence is related to faecal pollution. Results of the campaign are significant, especially depicting a not-good quality of the river water. The data have been shared with local authorities. We will start with a new campaign after the planned engineering solutions will be realized.


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Comments

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GLOBE Scientist (inactive)
6 Years Ago - Edited
A minor change in title is suggested. 'study-case' to 'case-study' and 'anthropic' to 'anthropogenic' seems more suitable.

Is there any data collected towards the possible impact on the health of the residents surrounding the river bank?
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Graziella Mocellin GLOBE Scientist
6 Years Ago - Edited
Hallo, we are Sara and Greta from ITTMalignani of Cervignano!
Thank you very much for your suggestions about the title, we are not so used to the technical English!
There are no studies about the possible illnesses affecting the residents, caused by the fecal pollution. Moreover, we never knew about any episodes of gastrointestinal diseases such as hepatitis or salmonellosis. Nevertheless, the amount of E. coli in the river is higher than both the limits for bathing (500 UFC/100 mL) decided by the Italian law (D. Lgs. 152/2006) and for irrigating (1000 UFC/100 mL) decided by WHO (2006). This fact limits a lot the possible uses of the river water for recreational and agricolture purposes, in particular in some areas in the town, where the contamination is very high.
As far as the nitrates are concerned, even though their amount is not higher than the limits for waste water, they can have a very big impact on the eutrophycation of the shallow lagoon where the river flows into, that is declared as one of the protected areas by the European Community.
Thank you very much
Sara Angelico and Greta Fogar (students)