Best practices protocol for drinking water supply contamination emergencies

A procedure for the emergency management of accidental pollution of groundwaters exploited for human consumption is being developed in the framework of a collaboration between the Water Research Institute and the National Civil Protection Department. The aim is to produce a "Best Practices Protocol" (BPP) targeted to water managers, public water agencies and boards. In this paper the part of the BPP concerning fast screening modelling is discussed: different methods for the assessment of the arrival time and concentration at the withdrawal point are compared, using a hypothetical contamination scenario applied to a real well field in central Italy. © 2013 The Authors.