Specialist Group on Use of Macrophytes in Water Pollution ... - IWA

UPDATE ON CONSTRUCTED WETLAND APPLICATIONS IN ITALY
Fabio Masi, PhD
IRIDRA Srl, Via La Marmora 51, 50121, Florence, Italy. (Email: masi@iridra.com)
Introduction: water situation in Italy
Italy occupies a long, boot-shaped peninsula, with a total area of 301,318 km² (of which 2,4
% is water), surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic
Sea. It is bounded by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia to the north. The Apennine
Mountains form the peninsula‘s backbone; the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest
of its northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi; 370 km²); the Po, its principal river, flows from the
Alps on Italy‘s western border and crosses the Padan plain to the Adriatic Sea. Several
islands form part of Italy; the largest are Sicily (9,926 sq mi; 25,708 km²) and Sardinia (9,301
sq mi; 24,090 km²). The Feb 2007 estimate for Population is 59,206,382 with a Density of
196.2/km². The climate in Italy is highly diverse and can be far from the stereotypical
Mediterranean climate depending on the location. Most of the inland northern areas of Italy
(for example Turin, Milan, and Bologna) have a continental climate often classified as Humid
subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa). The coastal areas of Liguria and
most of the peninsula south of Florence generally fit the Mediterranean stereotype (Köppen
climate classification Csa). The coastal areas of the peninsula can be very different from the
interior higher altitudes and valleys, particularly during the winter months when the higher
altitudes tend to be cold, wet, and often snowy. The coastal regions have mild winters and
warm and generally dry summers, although lowland valleys can be quite hot in summer.
According to the last available data given by the National Institute on Water Research (IRSA)
water precipitation in Italy is huge: it ranges from 600 to 1200 mm/year corresponding to 296
billion of cubic meters that, after evapo-transpiration, leaves 155 billions of cubic meters of
surface flow and 13 billion of cubic meters of underground flow. Total ―renewable‖ water
resources, therefore, would be 168 billion cubic meters per year, which means an availability
―pro-capite‖ of 2800 cubic meters per person, larger than UK or Germany. However, water
precipitation in Italy occurs mainly during spring and fall, therefore, to use surface flow, a
large buffer volume – able to store water during rainy seasons – would be needed. Given the
existing storage capacity along Italian rivers, the amount of available water resources is
around 50 billions of cubic meters per year. Such distribution is strongly uneven: water
availability ―per capita‖ ranges between 2000 and 200 m 3 /year. Dryer Regions, as Puglia and
Sicily had developed in the past important technologies for rain water harvesting and ―wise
use‖ of water. However, in the first years of the last century huge water transfer networks
have been realized, such as the ―Acquedotto Pugliese‖ that brings large amount of water from
Lucania to Puglia. Therefore, original local water storage systems have very often got out of
use.
Data on water use in Italy are mainly based on estimations, except for the municipal use,
that is well known. The last estimation available for the whole water consumption in the
country dates from 1999 and is summarized in table 1.
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24 IWA <strong>Specialist</strong> <strong>Group</strong> on Use of Macrophytes in Water Pollution Control: Newsletter No. 35