Nitrate leakage in a high buffalo breeding district (Caserta province)

Abstract

Livestock farming in Campania region is largely concentrate in Volturno Garigliano catchments, with a great excess of animals referred to the agricultural land and consequently serious wastewater management problems. The actual strategy of "planned manurig", up to date used, could be unsatisfactory because spreading is too much expensive, because the agricultural land of the farm are too little related to the number of animals and because we wish in an enlargement of the buffalo breeding in the region. A surveying on nitrate concentration over 150 wells was carried on in 1999-2000 and a repetition on 40 wells was carried in 2005 to asses the change in nitrate leakage. On the basis of the kriging analysis some conclusions were advanced.