Saltwater intrusion in the Po River Delta: Farmers’ perspectives and hotspot mapping using remote sensing

Saltwater intrusion poses a significant threat to coastal agriculture. Plant and soil health are both impacted by the presence of saline water and the damage varies from yield losses to desertification. Sea-level rise and more frequent and severe droughts associated with climate change are only exacerbating the problem. The Po River Delta is an important agricultural territory in Italy. Water availability and quality are very important for the agricultural sector given that 70% of the territory’s agricultural lands are irrigated. Therefore, when irrigation canals are contaminated with saltwater, the consequences can be very drastic. While this problem is well-noted and widely felt by the farmers of the region, quantitative means of measuring and predicting this phenomenon remain limited, preventing timely decisions regarding planting, irrigation, and harvesting. This thesis aims to a) collect the personal accounts of farmers in the Po Delta region regarding the impact of saltwater intrusion on their businesses and b) provide a spatial analysis, using satellite data, to map hotspots where saltwater intrusion is consistently a severe problem. These maps can help water authorities and farmers mitigate the phenomenon through structural and non-structural solutions and assist policymakers in developing sustainable and effective guidelines to protect coastal agriculture.