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The Po Delta Lagoons by the Consorzio Di Bonifica Delta Del Po October - 2013

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The Po Delta Lagoons by the Consorzio Di Bonifica Delta Del Po October - 2013 THE PO DELTA LAGOONS BY THE CONSORZIO DI BONIFICA DELTA DEL PO OCTOBER - 2013 THE PO DELTA AND THE HYDRAULIC EFFICIENCY OF ITS DISTRIBUTARIES AND OUTLETS: THE STATE OF THE ART OF STUDIES AND KNOWLEDGE MONITORING THE WATER QUALITY IN THE PO DELTA LAGOONS: ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL-PHYSICAL PARAMETERS MEASURED BETWEEN 2005 AND 2010 SHELLFISHING IN THE PO DELTA LAGOONS, VENETO: SOCIO–ECONOMIC ASPECTS ELEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE STABILIZATION OF THE SACCA SCARDOVARI THE PO DELTA LAGOONS OCTOBER - 2013 1 THE PO DELTA LAGOONS BY THE CONSORZIO DI BONIFICA DELTA DEL PO 2 PREFACE Presentation by Maurizio Conte (Veneto Region) 3 MANAGEMENT AND STUDYING OF THE PO DELTA by Fabrizio Ferro (Consorzio di Bonifica Delta del Po) 4 THE PO DELTA AND THE HYDRAULIC EFFICIENCY OF ITS DISTRIBUTARIES Studies & Research AND OUTLETS: THE STATE OF THE ART OF STUDIES AND KNOWLEDGE by Marco Zasso and Italo Saccardo (ARPAV Belluno), Giancarlo Mantovani (Consorzio di Bonifica Delta del Po), Bruno Matticchio (IPROS Padova), Alberto Agnetti and Silvano Pecora (ARPAEM Parma), Tommaso Settin (ARPAV Belluno, AIPO Rovigo) 22 MONITORING THE WATER QUALITY IN THE PO DELTA LAGOONS: ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL-PHYSICAL PARAMETERS MEASURED BETWEEN 2005 AND 2010 by Pietro Traverso and Angelo Rubino (Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia), Davide Zanchettin (Max Planck Institute for Meteorology) 40 SHELLFISHING IN THE PO DELTA LAGOONS, VENETO: SOCIO–ECONOMIC ASPECTS by Francesco Donati (Professor of Agricultural Policies and Economics) and Elena Fabbro (Università di Udine) 58 ELEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE STABILIZATION OF THE SACCA SCARDOVARI by Andrea Bonometto (Environmental Engineer), Lorenzo Bonometto (Società Veneziana di Scienze Naturali), Pippo Gianoni (Iuav Venezia and Dionea Sa Locarno) 84 THE FAO-IMOLA PROJECT Various Activities by Lino Tosini (Fondazione Ca’ Vendramin), Massimo Sarti (Chief Technical Adviser for the IMOLA project), Bruno Matticchio (IPROS Padova) 88 DELTAMED ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES 2011-2012 by Lino Tosini (Fondazione Ca’ Vendramin) 90 ON THE TIDALLY AVERAGED DIFFUSION IN THE VALLONA LAGOON (PO Thesis Review RIVER DELTA) Andrea Defina (Università degli Studi di Padova), Graduate Alice Sgarabottolo 92 SALTWATER INTRUSION IN THE PO DELTA: PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY FOR THE TERRITORY? ADAPTATION PROPOSALS FOR AN INTERREGIONAL AREA Pippo Gianoni (Iuav Venezia), Graduate Stefania Girardi 1 The Po Delta Lagoons October 2013 PREFACE MAURIZIO CONTE The common element that characterizes the territory of the Po Delta, more so than Veneto Region Enviromental Counselor any other area, is its richness in surface water, an element that is large enough and im- portant enough for it to be called a “place.” A place that is present both in the cultivated lands of the valleys, as well as the coastal lagoons, and that is made up of the scope that is the relationship between land and water. In its extensive fields, this scope of the relationship between land and water is present where the channels and ditches border the patches of land that make up farms at rhythmic intervals, while in the valleys and lagoons it is present along the thin strips of land bordering the stretches of water in val- leys or those separating the lagoons from the sea. Those who have worked in the Po Delta environment for a long time know that, what- ever the field, the most delicate point of a hydraulic intervention and/ or vivification is the point where the land meets the water, one conditioning the other, in fact in the Delta one intervenes on the land in order to have an effect on the water and on the water in order to modify the land. It is in this close relationship between the irrigation water and the agricultural land that the fertility of the arable land in the Delta is expressed; likewise the success of delta mussel fishing is due to the link between salt & brackish water and the lagoon bottoms. The future also holds another equally important meeting point for the Po Delta area. A place of intangible relationships, where management and maintenance choices re- garding the Delta area should be shared and, more importantly, guidelines should be identified for managing the effects that productive activities and climate change in the large hydraulic basin of the Po will have upon this delicate environment in the coming years. This new meeting point, which has its origins in the community system as imple- mented by national legislation, as expressed in the Contract of the mouths, which ena- bles “those who govern, use and live off the water of the rivers, the lesser hydrographic network, the valleys, lagoons and sea, to achieve the goal of setting up local projects that are shared and verified in their environmental, economic and financial feasibility.” As far back as the late 1980s, the Veneto delta was recognized as a laboratory for interventions in the lagoon areas, for which a special Interdisciplinary Commission was established in order to address the many planning and monitoring activities and the carrying out of interventions, whilst acknowledging that this is a difficult territory, one that is prone to unpredictable transformations and adaptations caused by storms and the flooding of the Po. With the passing of the Contract of the mouths for the Delta area, the original inter- vention implemented through the Interagency Committee will be replaced by the adop- tion of a system of shared rules for the integrated management, the exploitation of land, and water resources management. The Contract of the mouths Action Program will be used as a point of reference for all actions resulting from voluntary agreements and must meet environmental sustainability criteria. It is with great enthusiasm that one welcomes this new institution that, in institutional terms, reintroduces the importance relationships between different systems, on which nature frequently relies, allowing those who are lucky enough to spend time in the Veneto delta to appreciate the unique- ness, richness and beauty of this area. 2 THE MANAGEMENT AND STUDYING OF THE PO DELTA FABRIZIO FERRO The Consorzio di Bonifica Delta del Po’s previous publication regarding the wet- Consorzio di Bonifica Delta del Po President lands were very well received due to the scientific content of the topics dealt with re- garding above all, the monitoring activities and studies carried out in the Management of the Po Delta Lagoons for which the Consorzio di Bonifica Delta del Po has been responsible for over 25 years. Despite the previous issues being print editions of excellent quality and design that were also easy to consult, the Comitato Tecnico Scientifico, which advises the Con- sorzio on lagoon vivification activities, suggested a new format, no longer printed but published online and downloadable from the Consorzio di Bonifica Delta del Po and the Fondazione Ca’ Vendramin websites, as well as the website specially created by the Consorzio in order to promote the Geographical Information System on the la- goons (http://sil.deltapo.it). The reason for this choice lies in the possibility of greater exposure for the product, reaching institutions, scholars, experts, and students who use the Web as an archive for information. In this issue important studies carried out by the Consorzio are described with particular regard to the Sacca degli Scardovari, in which we look into issues concern- ing the adaptation of the mathematical model that simulates the hydrodynamics of the Sacca in order to assess the impact and effectiveness of interventions and plan- ning, the analysis of the economic aspects associated with and resulting from the implementation of interventions, and a description of interventions carried out on the sandbar, aimed at their environmental restoration, with environmental engineering and the planting of pioneer species. In lagoon areas that are sensitive to the flow of the Po distributaries, with their mouths located only a few hundred meters from the lagoon mouths, it was necessary to identify the surrounding conditions and therefore the flow discharged from each mouth, which is why distribution measurements were carried out in the Pontelago- scuro section on the various distributaries under the differing hydraulic conditions of the river. Another issue relates to the synthesis of the results of years of monitoring the quality of the lagoon waters carried out in cooperation with ARPAV. This real-time monitoring is useful in predicting anoxia and eutrophication in the study of ingression phenomena in lagoons with an excess of freshwater and the monitoring of the lagoon’s “breathing”. It is important to continue in efforts aimed at studying the Po Delta wetlands, a wonderful area from a naturalistic point of view and a source of income for the local people. 3 The Po Delta Lagoons October 2013 The Po Delta and the hydraulic efficiency of its distributaries and outlets: the state of the _STUDIES & RESEARCH art of studies and knowledge THE PO DELTA AND THE HYDRAULIC EFFICIENCY OF ITS DISTRIBUTARIES AND OUTLETS: THE STATE OF THE ART OF STUDIES AND KNOWLEDGE MARCO ZASSO Introduction and salt water mixing processes and is Agenzia Regionale per la Prevenzione e therefore among the principal factors Protezione Ambientale del Veneto, Sicurezza per il Territorio Dept., Belluno The availability and the acquisition in the delicate balance of transitional of useful information for the hydrolog - aquatic ecosystems, that consequently ITALO SACCARDO Agenzia Regionale per la Prevenzione e ic characterization of the Po River Del- influence
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