The course focuses on the management of water resources in agriculture from both a quantitative and qualitative point of view. In particular, the students will acquire knowledge concerning the different primary and secondary water sources available for agricultural purposes (surface water, groundwater, wastewater), their potential uses and associated impacts. The students will be trained on the use of tools (field monitoring strategies, conceptual and numerical models) suitable for the quantitative estimation of water balances in the different environmental compartments, and for the identification of potential criticalities in terms of water availability and its potential qualitative degradation, also in the framework of the effects of climate change. The students will learn to identify, analyze, design and support the implementation of technological solutions aimed at optimizing water use, and at minimizing the impacts of agricultural activities on the quality of surface and subsurface water and soils. A specific focus will be dedicated to technologies aimed at supporting and implementing the purification and re-use of wastewater, in view of a circular management of the resource.

The course aims at providing knowledge on key characteristics of surface and subsurface water bodies, on approaches and technologies currently available for water abstraction from different sources, on the expected impacts of the use of agrochemicals and fertilizers on water and soil quality, on the mitigation strategies and technologies for such impacts, and on the sustainable water management and re-use. The students are expected to acquire the following skills: - identify water supply-related problems and solve them with a rigorous, technical and quantitative approach; - select the optimal water sources and irrigation strategies in a given context; - identify, plan and manage the optimal technological solutions to problems related to the characterization of water bodies, to the prediction and mitigation of quantitative depletion and qualitative degradation of water sources, and in general to the management of water scarcity; - acquire basic knowledge in the use of technical software specific to the course topics; - improve their critical skills and independent judgement capabilities on the basis of the acquired technical knowledge (this skill will be developed in particular while solving preliminary design exercises focused on the main topics of the course); - development of technical communication skills, acquired during the preparation of the final group presentation (which will be part of the final exam).

Students are expected to have basic knowledge in organic and environmental chemistry, fluid mechanics, calculus. Students are also expected to have basic skills in programming and to be experienced users of the Microsoft Office package (in particular, Word, Excel, Power Point) or alternative text editing, spreadsheet and slide preparation software.

Part 1 – Fresh water sources: characterization and exploitation (20 h): - Introduction to the quantitative and qualitative management of water resources in agriculture - Key sources of fresh water supply: surface water and groundwater. For both, review of fundamental properties and flow phenomena: storage and flow properties in soil and groundwater, Richards equation, Darcy's law, piezometric maps, runoff formation in a catchment), key concepts of aquifer characterization, properties of the unsaturated root zone, field capacity definition. - Surface and subsurface water abstraction structures and techniques. - Total water balance: strategies for quantification and monitoring. Part 2 – Irrigation and quantitative water management (50 h): - Crop evapotranspiration: crop-specific water demand during the growing season (e.g. FAO56 method); estimates of the soil moisture and its temporal dynamics (models calibration with satellite and drone measures; characterization of the plant (depth of rooting, leaf coverage, height, etc.) and its sensitivity to potential water stress conditions; relationship between evapotranspiration and soil productivity (i.e. how much biomass is produced during the growth phase and how this can be impacted by the water stress that the soil may experience). - Irrigation: basic concepts; classification of irrigation systems and methodologies for their design and optimization; analysis of the implications of water withdrawals from surface and ground water bodies. - Opportunities to increase soil moisture availability; soft approaches (nature-based solutions) to reducing crops’ exposure to water stress (e.g., contour stone bund, pitting, and terracing). - Impact of climate change on water availability and demand (e.g., trends and annual fluctuation of rainfall and temperature). Focus on extreme events such as droughts and heat waves to understand how they impact crop evapotranspiration and, thus, crop productivity and land yield. Concepts of vulnerability, resilience and robustness of the agricultural system. - The role of geography and geopolitics to water resources management. A brief mention of virtual water trade and global water governance. Part 3 – Water quality protection and wastewater re-use (30 h): - Impacts of agriculture on water quality: mechanisms of dispersion, accumulation and attenuation of agrochemicals in the environmental compartments, and associated short- and long-term impacts (with a specific focus on the subsurface). Major approaches and technologies for the control and mitigation of agrochemical spreading and water quality degradation. - Wastewater re-use in agriculture: legislative framework, requirements and potentialities for fertirrigation in terms of organic carbon and nutrient content; risk of accumulation of persistent micro-pollutants; identification of the re-use alternatives based on wastewater sources and quality. - Advanced techniques for the controlled recharge of subsurface water bodies: managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and soil aquifer treatment (SAT). Key principles, identification of application potentialities, preliminary design approaches. Integrated management using real-time monitoring networks.

The course includes classes on the abovementioned topics (70 hours), exercises (25 hours) and a practical activity in the field (approx. 5 hours). The exercises will include: - Simple (individual) exercises aimed at deepening the understanding of key theory topics; - Analysis of experimental data (in groups) collected during filed activities; - Applied exercises (individual/in groups) focused on evaluating crop-specific water demand, on the preliminary design of an optimized irrigation system to sustainably maximize land productivity while limiting water use, and on the preliminary design of a MAR or SAT case study. In these exercises the use of technical software is envisioned and it will be coupled with on-field measurements, drone and satellite data. Field activities and associated data analysis along with preliminary design results will be presented at the end of the course by the groups and will contribute to the final evaluation.

A pdf print of the slides used during lectures will be made available in the student portal web site. Additional material will also be provided on the student portal for further reading on selected topics. On a case by case basis, it will be specified whether the material is compulsory for the final exam or not. Reference books (selected chapters only): R.Sethi, A. Di Molfetta (2019). Groundwater Engineering, Springer. ISBN: 978-3-030-20516-4 (https://tinyurl.com/yyvw67h7) Allen, R. G., Pereira, L. S., Raes, D., & Smith, M. (1998). FAO Irrigation and drainage paper No. 56. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 56(97), e156.

Slides; Libro di testo; Strumenti di collaborazione tra studenti;

Modalità di esame: Prova scritta (in aula); Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;

Exam: Written test; Group project;

... The onsite exam consists of: - A group presentation covering the elaboration of experimental data collected during the field activities and preliminary design results. The maximum score is 6. - a written test including open (essay) questions and short exercises covering the topics of the course. The maximum score is 26, the duration is 2 hours. The use of personal notes, books, or any other supporting material is not permitted. Students can take the written exam only if the final group presentation has been completed, as detailed above. The final mark is the sum of the two.

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.