IWRA World Water Congress 2008 Montpellier France
5. Water Governance and Water Security
Author(s): M. Giugni
N. Fontana
G. Lombardi
G.
Marini
Maurizio Giugni
Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering G.
Ippolito, University of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples, Italy,
phone: +39 081 7683443; fax:
+39 081 5938936, e-mail: giugni@unina.it
Gerardo Lombardi
Water Au
Keyword(s): Surface waters, water quality assessment, environmental indexes, Water Protection Plans
Article: PDFAbstractThe Italian laws D.L.
152/99 and D.L: 152/2006 define the general framework for safeguarding surface, ground and coastal waters by
pursuing the objectives of preventing or containing pollution, restoring water quality, protecting waters used for
special purposes, guaranteeing the sustainable use of available resources and maintaining the waters’ natural ability to
cleanse itself of impurities.
The objectives will be met through the use of a variety of instruments, including the
objectives of environmental quality and Protection Plans. However, before Protection Plans can be defined, the
qualitative and quantitative status of water bodies needs to be determined and information has to be acquired
regarding the physical, natural, social and economic characteristics of the basins in order to assess anthropic pressure
and impact.
This varied set of investigative and planning activities constitutes a totally new approach to
environmental policies regarding water resources in Italy.
A methodological approach has been developed in
order to assess the vulnerability of surface waters and to define their environmental quality on the basis of an
integrated analysis of the river’s ecosystem, which makes it possible for each river (or reach of river) to be attributed
with an overall index reflecting its environmental quality (river’s environmental quality map).
This procedure had
been applied to the pilot watersheds of the Tusciano and Picentino rivers (Campania Region, Southern Italy), by
means of a monitoring network comprised of 10 experimental sections.
The application of the proposed
integrated approach (chemical, microbiological, toxicological, biological, hydraulic and ecological) has made it
possible to provide an albeit preliminary definition of the environmental quality status for the basin of the Tusciano
and Picentino rivers and to draw up a preliminary draft of the environmental quality map.
Moreover the results
obtained, combined with the availability of an updated map indicating water usage and discharges, could suggest a
preliminary definition of the areas of surface waters to be safeguarded, and the publication of practical guidelines for
environmental requalification by means of an integrated strategy of non-structural and structural interventions.