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	ENVIRONMENT ENGINEERING, HYDRAULICS AND PHYSICS Section
	The Environment Engineering, Hydraulics and Physics Section includes two research groups involved in the following sectors: Rural buildings and agricultural-forestry environment; Agricultural Hydraulics and hillslope conservation. Rural buildings and agricultural-forestry environment The research activity mainly refers to the following sectors and the analysis and design of rural buildings (a, b) as well as territorial analysis, planning and landscape planning (c,d): a) Rural buildings. The main topic are: - planning, renewal and utilization of buildings and infrastructure for agricultural, forestry, agro-industrial and livestock production; - studies of the architecture of traditional rural buildings to develop criteria and guidelines for the design of new buildings in the countryside - design and experimentation of systems for livestock, agricultural, agro-industrial and forestry waste treatment to reduce environmental pollution - analysis of new buildings and structural trends in rural buildings - definition of criteria and dimensional standards for simplified structures b) Restoration of rural buildings of historical interest. The research activity focuses on the rural buildings of historical interest in order to analyse the predominant architectural aspects and restoration potentialities and to support the drawing up of explanatory overviews of urban-territorial regulations and landscape planning c) Territorial analysis. The most important topics are listed below: - historical analysis of rural land registers - analyses of rural landscape territorial transformations - diachronic study of territorial systems - modelling by means of GIS techniques and quali-quantitative analyses of both the landscape quality and the visual impact assessment - definition of territorial analysis criteria and methodologies for optimal site selection for the allocation of agricultural, forestry, agro-industrial zootechnical structures - definition of methodologies for the creation and integration of geographical databases for territorial analyses, by means of remote sensing, GPS and GIS techniques d) Territorial and landscape Planning. In the following the most important topics are given: - Critical review of the national and European town, territorial and landscape planning regulation’s evolution - Territorial analyses of both the rural system and the landscape for supporting the drawing up of explanatory overviews and defining guidelines for the territorial and landscape planning - definition of criteria for landscape incorporation and mitigation of the impact of the rural building system; - landscape planning of open space - Analyses of environmental certification instruments and of their applicability to sensitive areas - Definition of regulation guidelines for the restoration and new buildings in rural areas ENVIRONMENT ENGINEERING, HYDRAULICS AND PHYSICS Section Agricultural hydraulics and hillslope conservation works The main research topics dealt with by the “Area of Agricultural hydraulics and hillslope conservation works (AGR08)” concern basin hydrology (c), suspended sediment load dynamics, erosion processes (d, g), and soil protection, conservation strategies for hillsides through bioengineering techniques, design and management of agricultural waterworks, drainage and irrigation systems at farm level (a, b). a) Water resources management and irrigation Water conservation in agriculture: evaluation of water apportionment, both to collective and business sectors, and of practices aimed at its technical/economical optimisation (collective networks, delivery type, irrigation methods and costs, crop yields, water price). Calculation of consortium water balances as a water resources planning tool. Irrigation: Decision support systems: evaluation of irrigation economical suitability with regard to actual extents, water cost and conversion of irrigation methods. Technical/economical features of self-moving irrigators: evaluation of self-moving irrigators performance and of their agricultural/economical productivity Testing of irrigators technological features: evaluation of performance of single sprinkling irrigators on test-beds. b) Soil proneness to irrigation: tests to evaluate the proneness to irrigation of different soil types, with particular attention to soil surface crusting, infiltration and runoff following different irrigation methods. Drainage: efficiency of drainage systems: comparison of different methodologies and effects on nourishing releases. c) Soil conservation and hillside hydraulic works Close partnerships have been set up with the regional authorities and local land reclamation societies in order to define a series of guidelines for the design of bioengineering works in the Apennine environment. In fact, the lithological and climatic characteristics of the median Apennines are quite difficult for the survival of bioengineering works because of the clayey substrate, the rainy winter and the dry summer, which easily deteriorate hillsides and enhance surface erosion. So far, the construction and the exactness of the works have been monitored, in order to identify critical aspects for the success of the works and to build a geo-referenced data base of the existing works and their status. d) Catchment-scale hydrology: monitoring and analysis of hydrologic variables and river sediment transport Studies based on data coming from a monitoring programme concerning the Reno catchment basin, which belongs to the Regions of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. The main purpose of the Reno monitoring programme is to estimate suspended sediment loads analysing catchment dynamics, assessing the physical/chemical properties of suspended sediments and relating them to the geomorphologic factors driving hydrological processes, rainfall features and agricultural practices. In the year 1996 a hydrologic, monitoring programme was set up concerning the river Reno and some of its main tributaries. Thus according to the interest in sediment dynamics, gauging stations were built at the mouth of the Reno river (4139 km2), at the outlet of the mountain basin of three of its tributaries, the Sillaro (139 Km2), the Lavino (83 Km2) and the Savena (124 Km2), and at the outlet of the minor Gaiana torrent (8.7 km2). Precipitation, water flow and suspended sediment flux were monitored, and current results highlight the strong spatial and temporal non-linearity of the basin response to rainfall inputs. They also underline the wide variety of the processes involved in runoff and sediment flux generation, as well as their dependency on basin initial conditions and geomorphologic features. The undergoing project made it possible to develop many aspects of applied research, some of them immediately usable by research sponsors; specifically, a first hydro-turbidimetric database for the river Reno was set up and the data are shared with the Reno watershed authority and used for the design of basin management policy. The programme started thanks to the Reno Watershed Authority but year by year many partners have been involved, such as ARPA (Regional Agency for Environmental Prevention), CER land reclamation society, local government bodies and the Renana Land Reclamation Society. e) Surface erosion, distributed models at a catchment level Prediction of the amount of sediments entering the draining network of a catchment basin, both on event and long-term time scales, is a topic that has been approached in many ways. Mathematical models have been developed for this purpose, although they are often complex, addressed to scientific research and therefore common users are basically excluded from their use. Sometimes the complexity of the models is not even justified by reliable or accurate results. Because of the wide availability of measured data, an attempt was made to define some simple and readily usable regression equations aimed at predicting the suspended sediments concentration carried by the flow. Good results were achieved by relating the suspended sediment concentration to parameters describing the rainfall event generating the runoff, but further research is still ongoing. f) Analytical methods and physical-chemical characterization of suspended sediment yield Sediments eroded from basin hillslopes are slowly and naturally directed towards the drainage network. Since they enter the network, they interplay with the fluvial environment, leading to outcomes that could possibly have negative effects on riverine ecology or human interests. Sediment grain size distribution and chemical features are control factors on the way particles will affect the drainage network or handmade structures. Following these remarks, physical and geochemical properties of the sampled suspended sediments were analysed, trying to link them to the main features of the basin they were eroded from, as well as to those of the rainfalls generating runoff. Special attention was given to suspended sediments as sources of embedded nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus. The grain size distribution of the suspended sediments was also analysed, in order to understand the role of the geology of each basin and the main features of the rainfall-runoff process. Analytical aspects have been dealt with the aim of proposing quick and inexpensive techniques to estimate suspended sediment concentration: so far turbidimetric analysis and Imhoff cone analysis have been used g) Analysis of soil use dynamics and environmental impact at a catchment level Correct land management is a basic tool for the conservation of natural resources. Natural erosive processes continuously shape surface topography, following a natural equilibrium. Human presence interferes with this equilibrium and often results in an acceleration of natural processes, along with a threatening of the natural ecosystem and the availability of natural resources. Wise land management policies were often ignored shortly after the Second World War; this behaviour, along with the abandonment of most fragile plots, has led to situations not environmentally sustainable. Soil use dynamics during the last 50 years have been investigated for a few Apennine basins; the analysis was carried out through interpretation of air-photo and satellite images, GIS software and the application of erosion models such as the USLE at a basin level.