Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
provides an increase in habitat diversity as well as
renewed storage capacity (Wolters
et al.
2001).
11.5.4 Italy
At the end of the last century a growing need for
energy supply drove the implementation of hydroelectric
industrial systems and storage devices throughout the
Alp and Apennine regions of Italy culminating in 495
plants with a total capacity of 14,312 MWh, mostly
located about 2000 m above sea level. Furthermore,
the combination of extensive mountain ranges,
urbanization and development along the valley floor
and floodplains meant that natural river dynamics
were considered to be a hydraulic risk within river
corridors. As a consequence many rivers suffered the
same fate as much of the rest of Europe, resulting in
concrete channels, engineered infrastructure, extrac-
tion of gravel and sand, intensive agricultural use of
soil and a loss of biodiversity for all but a few rivers.
By the end of the 1980s, the Italian Government
produced important formative actions concerning the
water-management policy that led to the introduc-
tion of River Catchment Authorities that no longer fol-
lowed administrative borders and of ATO (Integrated
Management of Water Resources) that follows flow
regimes from source to discharge. In this context the
Italian Centre for River Restoration (CIRF) was estab-
lished in 1999 as a non-profit-making association that
aims to promote an innovative approach to water and
territory management through pilot projects (Beppe
Baldo, Director CIRF, personal communication).
Fig. 11.8
River Zero, Italy, post-restoration. Courtesy
of CIRF, Italy.
nels, 30 ha of riverine and floodplain lakes, 10 ha of
reed beds and about 160 ha of riparian woodland of
a previously concrete channel (see Fig. 11.8).
11.5.5 Large European river systems
Zero River Project
The Zero River Project is one such scheme aimed at
developing and implementing a catchment strategy
to protect key freshwater and estuarine habitats
associated with the Venice Lagoon. The project has
involved meeting nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus)
reduction targets through zoning the risk of the
catchment and creating buffer zones for pollution enter-
ing the rivers within the catchment. These buffer
habitats include riverine lakes, large reeded bank
margins, floodplain lakes and large areas of riparian
woodland. This project is now complete and has
resulted in the creation of 16 km of restored river chan-
Some central European rivers have the added com-
plication of flowing through a large number of coun-
tries, all with a vested interest in the river. Some
may see (or may previously have seen) these rivers as
conduits for waste and floods and others may see
them as the bringers of pollution and floods. Often,
interpreting national policies on the sustainable man-
agement of rivers is a difficult-enough task, without
having to agree multi-nationally. However, some
good examples do exist that take into account the
requirements of local inhabitants, improve biodivers-
ity and ensure the economic needs relating to flood
