PIAVE:COPING IRRIGATION AND THE

ECOLOGICAL FLOW

Speakers :i n g . P a o l o B a t t a g i o nd o c t . E r o s B o r s a t o

December 4th, 2019Meeting with the Greek Delegation

Piave River Basin

State of the art of hydraulic infrastructures

Time-lapse of the giant hydraulic infrastructures

1436First channel for water transfer (Brentella)

1492Discovery of America

1920-1963Building hydraulic infrastructures for water derivation and

dams for catchments

1925Intake structure in Nervesa

1929Intake structure in Fener

1914-1918First world war

1939-1945 Second war world

1963 The Vajont’scatastrophe

1920-1963Building dams and mountain water basins

2009 – Today

- PedemontanoBrentella

- Destra Piave- Sinistra Piave

The Piave Consortium forLand Reclamation and WaterSupply was born from threedifferent consortia:

1. Veronese

2. Adige Po

3. Delta del Po

4. Alta Pianura Veneta

5. Brenta

6. Adige Euganeo

7. Bacchiglione

8. Acque Risorgive

9. Piave

10. Veneto Orientale

LARISSA

Catchmentof S.Crocelake

Catchmentin Pieve di Cadore

Catchment of Mis stream

Water intakestructure in Fener

Water intakestructure in Nervesa

Castelletto channel

CURRENT STATUS

WATER INTAKE STRUCTURE IN FENER

WATER INTAKE STRUCTURE IN NERVESA

LAND RECLAMATION AREA

Pump Station

Border of Regional Land Reclamation Consortia

Rivers

Streams of Ecological Interest

Minor Hydraulic Network

Info of Land Reclamation Consortium

Area – ha 1.200.000

Population 4.358.000

Drainage area- km 18.000

Irrigation channel network -km

8.425

Pump station – n°Pumps installed – n°Total water discharged- l/s

4001.007

1.577.709

Surface below sea level- ha 240.000

Flooding area- ha 455.000

FLAT AREA POTENTIALLY FLOODED

Regional Land

Reclamation area:

1.182.000 ha

Surface on gravity

drainage: 455.000 ha- Pumping drainage system- Gravity drainage system

Pump stations: 400

IRRIGATED AREA

Withdrawn points 714:• 528 surface water • 186 groundwater

160.000 ha - Gravitywater supply system

40.000 ha - Pressurizedwater supply system

600.000 ha- Irrigatedarea

400.000 ha – Area under emergencyirrigation

200.000 ha – Equippedfor irrigation

FUNCTIONALITIES AND STRUCTURE OF THE CONSORTIA

HAZARDS AND WATER SAFETY

Maser Cornuda Pederobba16/7/18

Piave 28-30/10/18

Giavera 13/05/18

Water risk management and maintenance of channel banks

Peressina (4)

HOW DO WE DO THAT?

The activity is held by technicians, guardians in collaboration with the Management Office. The service is active 24/7 and the activity of maintenance is carried out by our workers or by contractors.

ACTIVITY

GUARDIANS

AVAILABILITY H24

MAINTENANCE

ADMINISTRATION

NETWORK RESTORATION

GRASS CHOPPING

PROMPT ACTION

ELECTRO-MECHANICS ACTIONS

CONTRACTORS

MULCHING

FLUSH/DRAINING

TYPES OF WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS

Hydraulic channels network:

Irrigation 3 600 km

Drainage1 800 km

Mixed use 1 000 km

25 000 ha irrigated with open air channels

30 000 ha irrigated with pressurized pipes

17 200 ha of land reclamation

25200 haWITH SURFACE AND

FURROW IRRIGATION

EQUIPMENT (1/3)

Surface and furrow irrigation can consume maximum 1,2 l/s ha

27500haWITH SPRINKLER

IRRIGATION

EQUIPMENT (2/3)

Sprinkler irrigation can consume maximum 0,7 l/s ha

EQUIPMENT (3/3)

Drip irrigation commonly consumes maximum 0,4 l/s ha

IRRIGATION SCHEDULE

9:30 am

now

11:00 am 13:10

15:2017:30

17:55

18:15

19:45

21:35

Irrigation interval (days):(Soil water storage/ETP)

Unitary allocation (hours/ha):(Interval / Area of water supply facility)

Irrigation timing (hours):(Unitary allocation x

Irrigated surface)

COSTS REDISTRIBUTION AND WATER TAXES

RUOLOTAX BURDEN

CADASTRAL DATASET

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

REGULATION PLAN

ECONOMIC BALANCE COSTS REDISTRIBUTION

ACCORDING TO LOCAL MARGINAL BENEFITS

ALLOWANCE OF FEES AND INCOME

Existing and future challanges for the Consortium and the

territory

1960-2018CLIMATE CHANGE

NUMERO DESCRIZIONE PORTATA MAX STATO

GD 465 Licence for water withdrawing from Piave River

at the station of water intake in Fener (BL)32,50 mc/s Expired on the

17/11/1996

GD 239 Hydropower and water Licence for water

transfer and supply from the water intake

structure in Nervesa della Battaglia into three

channels: Priula, Ponente e Piavesella

24,80 mc/s Expired on the21/02/1991

GD 185 Water abstraction for irrigation purposes from

Meschio River into the channel Castelletto-

Nervesa

13,96 mc/s Expired on the19/01/1997

1996-2003WATER LICENCES ARE ALREADY EXPIRED

ALL LICENCES ARE NOWADAYS POSTPONED

Resolution of the Veneto Region executive n. 737 on the 04th June 2019

Till the 22nd JUNE 2022

2004 – Plan for water resources managementof Piave River

ARTICLE 4 – DEFINING THE ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS (DMV in Italian)

ARTICLE 9 – LEGISLATION FOR WATER WITHDRAWALS AND GUIDELINEFOR THE CORRECT WATER USE

11,9 m3/s 6,3 m3/s

DMV IN FENER

Winter Summer

DMV IN NERVESA

10,2 m3/s

The introduction of Environmental Flows

THE PLAN FOR WATER MANAGEMENT

The plan concerns 1280 actions for specific and

generic objectives, following the goal and scopes of

the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/CE for the

achievement of the good status of water bodies,

streams and rivers.

One important action mentions the compliance with

the Ecological Flows for rivers and streams. This

action replaces the previous action for

Environmental Flows.

THE ECOLOGICAL FLOWS

«The ecological flows reflect a volume ofwater or a stream discharge needed topreserve healthier aquatic ecosystem andpromoting ecosystem services»

WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE 2000/60/CE: MAIN ACTIONS

• Implement the WFD principles by 2021;

• Take account to the morpho-hydraulic components and to the water

quality in order to achieve the WFD and the Habitats Directive

(92/43/CEE) objectives;

• Evaluate the environmental impacts (footprints) enhanced by hydraulic

alterations through the use of indicators able to detect changes in the

biota.

• Select suitable methods depending on the primary data available and the

accuracy of the methodology detecting impacts.

The Irrigation District Authority indicatedthe referenced equation for the EcologicalFlows determination:

Protection factor

Time factor

Nature preservation factor

Temporal adjustment factor

Annual average discharge

MULTIHABITAT SAMPLING ON PIAVE RIVER IN NERVESA(26/06/2018)

Drone fly (08/08/2018)In MASERADA

RGB image of the area

We are here

False colors image of the area

Drone image of the sampling area

DMV->DE in FENER

DMV->DE in NERVESA

10,2 m3/s -> 30 mc/s

11,9 m3/s -> 22 mc/s

Pia

ve

Riv

er

Ba

sin

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES FOR

LAKES AND WATER ABSTRACTIONS?

SCENARIO «DE» of PIAVE CONSORTIA

IRRIGATION SEASON16-mag / 15-set (122 DAYS)

2015 2016

1 83 372 -72% -55%3 119 664 -52% -24%

2015 2016

1 70 302 -92% -48%3 21 134 -87% -42%

1. Days in which there is no water for irrigation

2. % reduction according to the WFD

3. Water volume needed for the EF (106 m3)

4. % reduction with respect to the correct water discharge in river

FE

NE

RN

ER

VE

SA

If we respect the Ecological Flows leavingthe correct water discharge in the River…

CONSEQUENCES FOR AGRICULTURE

SAFE WATER AND STOCK WATER LONGER IN MOUNTAIN RIVER BASINS

WHAT’S THE IMPACT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE LANDSCAPE?

INTERACTION BETWEEN SURFACE WATER AND GROUNDWATER WHILE LOOKING TO THE WATER TABLE

Montebelluna

Cornuda

Morgano

SPRING AREA

Morgano

HIGH PLAIN AQUIFERS

Most of the plain’s rivers start from the spring line, where infiltrated water comes out and makes origin of rivers like: Sile, Melma and Mignagola.

S1S2

S4

S5

S7

21,8 m3/s → 18,2 m3/s

- 16,5 %

DISCHARGE MEASUREMENTS BEFORE AND AFTER DRY OUT THE STREAM BED

31,7 m3/s → 22,6 m3/s

- 29 %

9,9 m3/s → 3,3 m3/s

- 66 %

1,07 m3/s → 0,89 m3/s

- 17 %

40,6 m3/s → 33,7 m3/s

- 17 %

The comparisonbetween differentrecords of the dischargebefore and during theevent established that:• The discharges of

spring rivers (SileRiver) are mainlycaused from PiaveRiver flows by 20 -30%.

• Almost 70% of waterflows fromBotteniga River(confluent of the SileRiver in Treviso)comes out fromPiave River.

TREVISO CITY OF WATER

Possible solutions to preserve water resource

• Reduce water footprint:

• Water withdrawals need to be exclusively closed to the real crop water requirements;

• Observe the seasonal and local Ecological Flows requirement.

• Fostering sustainable water use:

• Create a resilient system to the seasonal water scarcity;

• Promote the awareness and encourage the application of ecosystem services.

• Implement the efficiency:

• Shifting from gravity to a more efficient pressured water supply system;

• Encourage low irrigation volume and more efficient irrigation systems which are able to pursue precision irrigation.

• Enhance community awareness about a respectful and correct use of water resources:• Local control of the water waste and the correct water consumption;

• Communicate and train users on the common VALUE of water.

OBJECTIVES

Reducing water consumption:Installation of a device for controlling water volumes

HYDRANT OF THE

CONSORTIUM

AT PRIVATE IRRIGATION

SYSTEM

Stagione irrigua: 15 maggio - 15 settembre

Huge plan of setting new irrigation schedule according to local needs

SEARCHING FOUNDS TO REBUILD AND

CONVERTING OLD WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM TO A

MORE EFFICIENT ONES: FROM GRAVITY TO

PRESSURIZED NETWORK

We expect a water saving of 50%. Transforming the remaining 26000 ha we can save up to13 mc/s.

A huge economic investment around 260 millions of euro is needed.

MAIN PIPES OF THE PRESSURIZED NETWORK

SECONDARY LINE FOR WATER SUPPLY

Public Agency and Institutions

Enterprises

Citizens

Consortium of Land Reclamation and Irrigation water supply

Other entities and stakeholders with the role of water management

Partnership on water resource management

Conclusions

• Reducing water abstractions for crop water needs is of crucialimportance to recognize the value of leaving enough water for theaquatic ecosystem;

• Evaluate the local river discharge in order to better implementdecisions on Ecological Flows;

• Calculate and measure the impact on water resource for severalaspects: irrigation volumes withdrawn, environmental and landscapeconsequences, economic income for the territory who benefits of usingwater resources;

• Pursue efficient policies of water saving replacing old water supplysystems with efficient ones seeking financial support;

• Promoting low volume irrigation systems for precision irrigation;

• Decrease water wastes checking users’ water consumption;• Communicate and train users on the common VALUE of water.

FINAL REMARKS

Thank you for the attention

www.consorziopiave.it