Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 17.4 An example of river restoration in Italy
PROJECT NAME: River Zero, Italy
BACKGROUND:
• This project concentrated on implementing a
catchment strategy to protect key freshwater and
estuarine habitats associated with the Venice
Lagoon.
AIMS:
• Reduction of nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus)
by identifying the areas at risk in the catchment.
• Create buffer zones to reduce pollution entering
the rivers within the catchment at strategic points.
TECHNIQUES USED:
• Buffer areas were created through riverine lakes,
large reeded bank margins, fl oodplain lakes and
large areas of riparian woodland all supporting a
range of habitats.
PROJECT FUNDING:
• Locally funded.
BENEFITS:
• Creation of 16 km of restored river channels.
• 30 hectares of riverine and fl oodplain lakes.
• 10 hectares of reedbeds (Figure 17.7).
considered to be a hydraulic risk within river corridors
(i.e. unacceptable risk of fl ooding in urban areas). As a
consequence, many rivers suffered the same fate as
much of the rest of Europe, resulting in concrete chan-
nels, engineered infrastructure, extraction 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
normative actions concerning the water management
policy that led to the introduction of River Catchment
Authorities that no longer followed administrative
borders and of systems of
Integrated Management of
Water Resources
that follow fl ow regimes from source to
discharge. In this context, the Italian Centre for River
Restoration (CIRF 2001) was established in 1999 as a
nonprofi t association that aims to promote an innova-
tive approach to water and territory management
through pilot projects. See Box 17.4 and Figure 17.7
for an example in Italy.
Figure 17.7
River Zero, Italy, after restoration. (Courtesy
of CIRF, Italy.)
Transboundary systems
ments of local inhabitants, improve biodiversity and
ensure that the economic needs relating to fl ood
defence are met. In this context, good schemes are
those that aim to create a sustainable river and fl ood-
plain solution, which function as naturally as possible
within the constraints of today's increased pressures
on the surrounding land.
Within northern mainland Europe, the Rhine is
one of the most important rivers and, whilst its source
is in Switzerland, it fl ows through France, Germany
and the Netherlands to the North Sea. It has been the
Some central European rivers have the added compli-
cation of fl owing through a large number of countries,
all with a vested interest in the river. Some may see (or
may previously have seen) it as a conduit for waste and
fl ood waters, and others downstream may see it as the
bringer of pollution and fl oods. Often interpreting
national policies on the sustainable management of
rivers is a diffi cult enough task, without having to
come to international agreement. However, some good
examples do exist that take into account the require-
