Abstract
Since year 1989, an increasing environmental awareness introduced in Italian water legislation the concept of “minimum in-stream flow”. The aim was to limit the abstraction of water from rivers for off-stream uses, in order to protect water quality and to preserve aquatic life in rivers. More recently, under the pressure of the European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, more advanced rules have been issued to estimate the “ecological flow”. After a review of the main methods developed to assess the minimum in-stream flow, the chapter analyses the evolution of the Italian legislation on this subject. Specifically, differences between rules issued to evaluate the minimum flow within a specific law objective, such as river basin planning, protection of water quality and regulation of diversion permit, are described. The methodological approaches provided by the guidelines issued by the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea in the year 2017 are high-lighted. Further advances necessary to achieve a sustainable balance between needs of aquatic life and water abstraction for off-stream uses are also discussed.
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Alecci, S., Rossi, G. (2020). Ecological In-Stream Flows. In: Rossi, G., Benedini, M. (eds) Water Resources of Italy. World Water Resources, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36460-1_10
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