River water abstraction environmental compatibility in new projects authorization and existing sites management

In this paper the main results of two scientific researches on the river water abstraction environmental compatibility, promoted by Regione Piemonte — Direzione Pianificazione delle Risorse Idriche and developed by Settore Ecologia — Dipartimento di Georisorse e Territorio — Politecnico di Torino, are schematically presented. Dams and barrages, that cause significant changes in river hydraulics, and consequently several impacts on the fluvial ecosystem, are widely spread and new projects are continuously proposed. For this reason, in 1995 Regione Piemonte fixed detailed criteria for the minimum vital flow (DMV) calculation, requesting the drafting of an environmental compatibility dossier ( dossier CAP) for the authorization of new projects and the renewal of existing concessions. The first scientific research has been promoted in order to define and standardize the studies to be conducted on the fluvial ecosystem for a correct dossier CAP drafting. Trough the analysis of many sites, detailed guidelines have been prepared, defining simple and objective criteria aimed to delimit the river reach influenced by the water abstraction that must be analyzed in the dossier, to describe the baseline conditions of the main environmental components, such as fluvial biocenosis (aquatic macroin-vertebrates, ichthyofauna, riparian vegetation), water quality, solid transport, aquifers, etc., to quantify the hydraulic variations arising from the new infrastructure, to estimate the more probable impacts on the fluvial ecosystem relating the forecast hydraulic variations to the previously defined environmental baseline conditions, and to identify useful mitigation measures for the protection of the fluvial ecosystem survival (often not sufficiently guaranteed by the simple release of the DMV downstream the abstraction section). These guidelines are now going to be adopted by Regione Piemonte as a technical regulation and a reference also for the project subjected to EIA procedures (VIA). After the infrastructure construction, the entity of the environmental impacts and the effectiveness of the mitigation measures defined through the results of the dossier CAP or EIA studies should be clearly monitored and verified during the operation phases, in order to check the real environmental compatibility of the river water abstraction site. Hence, with the second research the EMAS (CEE Regulation 1836/93) application has been proposed, in order to achieve a correct environmental management of these infrastructures, with particular attention to hydroelectric use. Detailed guidelines have been drawn to simplify the voluntary adhesion to the Eco Management and Audit Scheme, in order to continuously improve the environmental performances of the sites activities. Check-lists and tables, addressed to comply to all the EMAS regulation requirements, allow to draw the site environmental framing, to define and describe all the activities carried out in the site from the abstraction to the restitution sections, and, for each activity, to identify the responsible employees and the main legal requirements, to quantify the energy and raw materials consumption and all the related environmental effects, to define the effects relevance and consequently the targets and objectives of the environmental program (with particular regard to the abstracted and released discharges monitoring and the sedimentation management), and adequate procedures for the accomplishment of each activity, implementing a correct environmental management system, periodically checking the achievement of the fixed environmental objectives. These guidelines represent a useful tool for the voluntary implementation of the EMAS in the river water abstraction sites, that could be spurred further on by the Authorities through the definition of adequate measures addressed to the companies intended to apply an environmental management system to their activities, such as the lowering of the water abstraction concession fees, facilitation for the renewals, priority in case of more concurrent requests and inspections reduction or elimination.