water Article Integrating Meso-Scale Habitat Modelling in the Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) Process for the Assessment of Hydropower Sustainability Erica Vassoney 1,* , Andrea Mammoliti Mochet 2, Raffaele Rocco 3, Roberto Maddalena 3, Paolo Vezza 1 and Claudio Comoglio 1 1 Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy;
[email protected] (P.V.);
[email protected] (C.C.) 2 ARPA Valle d’Aosta, Loc. La Maladière 48, Saint-Christophe, 11020 Aosta, Italy;
[email protected] 3 Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Dipartimento Programmazione, Risorse Idriche e Territorio, via Promis 2, 11100 Aosta, Italy;
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[email protected] (R.M.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +39-011-0907642 Received: 31 January 2019; Accepted: 24 March 2019; Published: 27 March 2019 Abstract: The increasing number of water abstractions and water-use conflicts in alpine regions represents a significant threat for these fragile aquatic ecosystems. The use of tools, like multicriteria analysis (MCA), can support related decision-making processes towards sustainable solutions. In this paper, an innovative approach to assess water withdrawals sustainability by integrating the MesoHABSIM (Mesohabitat Simulation Model) into an MCA framework is presented and discussed. The methodology was implemented by replacing, within the MCA assessment, Water Framework Directive biological indicators with the MesoHABSIM based river Habitat Integrity Index, related to watercourse discharge and morphology, which allows quantifying the impacts of withdrawals on river ecosystems and fish communities. The resulting MCA procedure considers four criteria (energy, environment and fishing, landscape, economy) and requires only the use of measurable indicators based on watercourse discharge and its continuous monitoring.