Case study:Lower Aurino river: Gatzaue riverbed widening

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Location: 46° 50' 55.24" N, 11° 57' 20.93" E

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site
Themes	Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Social benefits, Spatial planning
Country	Italy
Main contact forename	Caterina
Main contact surname	Ghiraldo
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano
Contact organisation web site
Partner organisations
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects

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Project summary

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The Aurino river is a typical Alpine watercourse (basin Area 630 km2, average discharge in summer 30-50 m3/s) affected in the past by gravel extraction, construction of bank defences along part of its course and a major reduction of sediment load from upstream, due to weirs and other protection measures in most tributaries. This determined channel incision, reduction of riverbed width, alteration of morphological structures and dynamics and as a consequence reduced connection with the floodplain, lowering of the groundwater level and loss of riparian habitats (especially hygrophilic riparian forests of Alnus incana). A major effect was also a reduced flood retention capacity, and its recovery by reverting the incision process was one of the main drivers, together with biodiversity increase, to implement a catchment scale restoration scheme. This has been carried out, step by step, for more than a decade and further measures are foreseen. The three interventions in Gatzaue in 2005, 2009 and 2011 included removing a total of 50000 m3 of gravel from the formerly disconnected floodplain, widening the riverbed by approximately 35 m and, in order to stop incision, the construction of a ramp in 2005 and, in 2009 and 2011, the reintroduction in the same stretch of part of the gravel excavated from the river banks. A monitoring activity was implemented to study the geomorphological and biological effects of the project.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Lessons learnt

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Catchment and subcatchment

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Site

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Name	Gatzaue
WFD water body codes	03SS3N
WFD (national) typology
WFD water body name	D_c Torrente Aurino
Pre-project morphology	Single channel
Reference morphology	Braided
Desired post project morphology
Heavily modified water body	No
National/international site designation
Local/regional site designations
Protected species present	Yes
Invasive species present	No
Species of interest
Dominant hydrology	Artificially regulated
Dominant substrate	Gravel
River corridor land use	Grassland
Average bankfull channel width category	10 - 50 m
Average bankfull channel width (m)
Average bankfull channel depth category	0.5 - 2 m
Average bankfull channel depth (m)
Mean discharge category	10 - 100 m³/s
Mean annual discharge (m3/s)
Average channel gradient category
Average channel gradient
Average unit stream power (W/m2)

Project background

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Reach length directly affected (m)	10001,000 m <br />1 km <br />100,000 cm <br />
Project started	2003
Works started
Works completed	2011/01/04
Project completed
Total cost category	100 - 500 k€
Total cost (k€)	195195 k€ <br />195,000 € <br />
Benefit to cost ratio
Funding sources	Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano

Cost for project phases

Phase	cost category	cost exact (k€)	Lead organisation	Contact forename	Contact surname
Investigation and design
Stakeholder engagement and communication
Works and works supervision
Post-project management and maintenance
Monitoring

Reasons for river restoration

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Mitigation of a pressure	Biodiversity increase, flood risk control, morphology restoration
Hydromorphology	Width & depth variation, Connection to groundwaters and floodplain
Biology	Fish, Invertebrates
Physico-chemical
Other reasons for the project	Increase social activities

Measures

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Structural measures
Bank/bed modifications	Riverbed widening, creation of new branches
Floodplain / River corridor	Floodplain reconnection
Planform / Channel pattern	creation of new natural channels
Other	Creation of new lateral habitat for fishes, amphibians and birds (alcedo atthis)
Non-structural measures
Management interventions
Social measures (incl. engagement)	Citizen participation in the restoration project
Other

Monitoring

Hydromorphological quality elements

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quality elements

Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative
Channel pattern/planform	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Improvement
Connection to groundwaters	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Improvement
Structure & condition of riparian/lake shore zones	No	Yes	No	No	No	Improvement

Biological quality elements

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quality elements

Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative
Invertebrates	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No change

Physico-chemical quality elements

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quality elements

Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative

Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic

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Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative
Riparian vegetation	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No change

Monitoring documents

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Monitoraggio campana.pdf

Image gallery

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Aerial view before works

Aerial view after works

The riverbed after the works

Additional documents and videos

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Additional links and references

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Link	Description

Supplementary Information

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