Geospatial Tools for Olive Oil Mills’ Wastes (OOMW) Disposal Areas Management

LIFE+ project “Strategies to improve and protect soil quality from the disposal of olive oil mills’ wastes (OOMW) in the Mediterranean-PROSODOL” aims towards the development and application of technologies for the protection, improvement and remediation of soils which are polluted from the disposal of olive oil mill's wastes. In this effort, several geospatial application tools were presented and implemented aiming to the effective monitoring of soil quality and wastes disposal areas management. The project was based on the collection of more than 1000 soil samples throughout the course of the project which were chemically analyzed in order to indicate the most significant soil parameters that could most suitable describe soil degradation due to OOMW disposal. Based on the above results, a geospatial monitoring system application tool was implemented, where users (individuals or services) can enter measurements (spatial points) of these indicative chemical parameters at various time intervals and soil depths and monitor the fluctuation of the values through time. Results are indicated through predefined diagrams that have predefined zones (orange and red) depending on the degree of alert that needs to be signaled to the users. In addition, the soil parameters were mapped with respect to the depth, date and temporal variations of their spatial distribution (spatial surfaces). Furthermore, the diffusion of these parameters in the subsurface was also studied. Interpolated surfaces were created and integrated within another geospatial web based map application tool. Interpolated surface maps can be viewed simultaneously above topographic and satellite maps, providing a possible overview of the diffusion of the parameters in the subsurface and thus the risk-level in the vicinity of the waste disposal areas to the users. A further verification of the diffusion of the underground pollution was also monitored through the application of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) techniques. The geospatial monitoring tool application is available for free download from the Web site of the project