Hydrological Modelling Of Water Infiltration In Urban Soils. Case Study Of Iasi Municipality (Romania)

The post-communist period (after 1989) caused important changes in the functional structure of Iasi municipality. The partly dismantling of the industrial area, the urban sprawl against the periurban and agricultural space, the new infrastructure works, all these determined important changes of water runoff of urban area and soils' physical and morphological properties (e.g. porosity, density, compaction, infiltration rate etc.). This study aims to evaluate the infiltration rate in urban soil of Iasi municipality and identify spatial patterns of infiltration of water in urban areas through combination of statistical and geostatistical methods intended for a correct spatial representation. Water infiltration in urban soils was analyzed in relation to land use and type of soils. Field investigations consisted in measurements of the water infiltration (by the means of Turf Tech infiltrometer), for 69 equally distanced points (750 m x 750 m) placed in a grid covering more than 33 km(2). For each analyzed sector (residential areas, industrial areas, degraded lands, recreational areas-parks and botanical gardens, forests heterogeneous agricultural lands), the variation curve of the infiltration rates is different depending on the land use and the importance of soil horizon transformation. The results were mapped using the facilities of ArcGis 9.3 software, through different interpolation methods (IDW, krigging).