Groundwater Bodies Subdivision in Corsica: A Critical Approach Based on Multivariate Water Quality Criteria Using Large Database

Abstract

The cross-referencing of two databases, namely the compartmentalization into groundwater bodies (GWB) and the quality monitoring (2830 observations including 15 physico-chemical and bacteriological parameters, on 662 collection points and over a period of 27 years) is applied to better understand the diversity of the waters of the island of Corsica (France) and to facilitate the surveillance and quality monitoring of the groundwater resource. Data conditioning (log-transformation), dimensional reduction (PCA), classification (AHC) and then quantification of the information lost during grouping (ANOVA), highlight the need to sub-divide the groundwater bodies in the crystalline part of the island in order to take better account of lithological diversity and other environmental factors (slope, altitude, soil thickness, etc.). The compartmentalization into 15 units, mainly based on structural geology, provides less information than the grouping into 12 units after subdivision of the crystalline region. The diversity of the waters in terms of chemical and bacteriological composition is discussed, and the results encourage a review of the compartmentalization of the island’s GWBs, with a view to more targeted monitoring based on this diversity.