Spatial Exploration of the Relationships between Agricultural Land Use and Water Quality Measures

Agricultural land-use effect on water quality (surface and groundwater) is a well-known issue, and actions are needed to reduce the impacts of farm inputs management. Direct and indirect links can also be found with some of the SDGs (i.e., SDG 6—Clean water and sanitation). Assessing these impacts can support the definition of sustainable management practices for agricultural production as well as evaluating the performance of policies and directives (e.g., European Common Agricultural Policy). In this work, we performed an analysis of the relationship between agricultural land use and pesticides found in surface waters located in South Italy (Foggia province—Apulia). Land-use data were produced with a complex data integration process using administrative geospatial data from the Italian agricultural paying agency. Land-use data were jointly analyzed with water quality measures on surface waters within a large watershed in the study area. A statistical analysis was carried out in order to assess the relationships between specific types of chemicals in water and land uses within a circular buffer of 5 km around each monitoring station.