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Volume 13
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10.3390/environments13020108
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Article

Integrating Water and Soil Quality Indices for Assessing and Mapping the Sustainability Status of Agricultural Lands

by
Eleonora Grilli
1,*,
Gianluigi Busico
1,
Maria Pia De Cristofaro
1,
Micòl Mastrocicco
1,
Simona Castaldi
1 and
Antonio Panico
2
1
Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Vivaldi n° 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
2
Department of Engineering, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Environments 2026, 13(2), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments13020108
Submission received: 15 January 2026 / Revised: 9 February 2026 / Accepted: 10 February 2026 / Published: 15 February 2026
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Abstract

Soil quality assessment represents the essential step to achieve sustainable agriculture. This study introduces SUITED, a GIS-based approach that overcomes limitations of traditional soil quality indices by using open data, a remote sensing-derived salinity index, and a customized Water Quality Index (WQI) to evaluate soil quality, irrigation water quality, and treated wastewater use. The index was constructed by combining the selected factors across different soil depths and subsequently merging them using a weighted linear combination to produce the result map. Each parameter has been classified using geometrical criteria allowing a site-specific assessment. SUITED was applied to small sub-watersheds of the Volturno and Po rivers plains (southern and northern Italy, respectively). The index maps (0–30 cm depth) show that over 90% of both areas fall into medium to very low sustainability classes. In the Volturno river plain, soil quality is primarily driven by soil type distribution and their inherent heterogeneity, while in the Po river plain, soil texture and shallow saline groundwater mainly control sustainability. Furthermore, the integration of WQI and SUITED maps provided a reliable evaluation of irrigation water impacts, supporting informed decision making for water use and drainage management.
Keywords: soil quality assessment; soil quality index; groundwater quality; GIS-based framework; soil salinization soil quality assessment; soil quality index; groundwater quality; GIS-based framework; soil salinization

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MDPI and ACS Style

Grilli, E.; Busico, G.; Cristofaro, M.P.D.; Mastrocicco, M.; Castaldi, S.; Panico, A. Integrating Water and Soil Quality Indices for Assessing and Mapping the Sustainability Status of Agricultural Lands. Environments 2026, 13, 108. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments13020108

AMA Style

Grilli E, Busico G, Cristofaro MPD, Mastrocicco M, Castaldi S, Panico A. Integrating Water and Soil Quality Indices for Assessing and Mapping the Sustainability Status of Agricultural Lands. Environments. 2026; 13(2):108. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments13020108

Chicago/Turabian Style

Grilli, Eleonora, Gianluigi Busico, Maria Pia De Cristofaro, Micòl Mastrocicco, Simona Castaldi, and Antonio Panico. 2026. "Integrating Water and Soil Quality Indices for Assessing and Mapping the Sustainability Status of Agricultural Lands" Environments 13, no. 2: 108. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments13020108

APA Style

Grilli, E., Busico, G., Cristofaro, M. P. D., Mastrocicco, M., Castaldi, S., & Panico, A. (2026). Integrating Water and Soil Quality Indices for Assessing and Mapping the Sustainability Status of Agricultural Lands. Environments, 13(2), 108. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments13020108

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