WATER QUALITY IN THE ARTIFICIAL CANAL NETWORK IN THE RENO BASIN (BOLOGNA ITALY)

The aim was to provide a physical-chemical characterization of river and canal network water in the area of expertise of the ex Bonifica Reno-Palata between the Reno river and Torrent Samoggia. The monitoring started in July 2007 and stopped in November 2009. The work consisted in the collection, almost monthly, of the waters that were subjected to chemical and physical analyses, some in situ (temperature and electrical conductivity) and others at the laboratory (pH, nutrient parameters with Hach-Lange’s colorimetric methods, macro and micro elements by ICP-OES). Data from each analysis were processed using statistical software such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Factor Analysis (FA) Cluster Analysis (CA). The results obtained in the three years of sampling show a very complex reality, with many sources of pollution of the surface waters of the canals. These canals, during their course, are unable to abate the load of pollutants present by the process of self-purification. This leads to a deterioration of water quality in the Reno river, the waters not always being suitable for irrigation. Besides, thanks to the multivariate statistical analysis and in particular to the CA, we were able to identify the stations with greater pollution of their surface water.