MONITORING OF THE WATER AND ENVIRONMENT REQUALIFICATION ACTIONS OF THE “FOSSETTA DEI MORTI” (CARPI, ITALY)

Abstract

The Istituto d’Istruzione Superiore  (High School) “Antonio Zanelli” from Reggio Emilia, Italy, has carried out research activities on an artificial water body called “Fossetta Dei Morti”, within the agreement signed with the “Consorzio di Bonifica dell’Emilia Centrale”. Such water body, located in the municipality of Carpi (Modena), had previously been the target of  hydraulic-environmental requalification actions, carried out by the Consorzio di Bonifica itself within the European Project LIFE ECOnet, aiming at securing the banks and at the creation of a riparian vegetation strip. The High School has undertaken the following actions: characterizing/monitoring the waters from a chemical, chemical-physical and microbiological points of view; characterizing/monitoring the sediment from a chemical and physical-chemical point of view; establishing the biological quality through the analysis of the macrozoobenthos community (application of the IBE method); and establishing the hydro-ecological functionality (application of the IFF method).  The goal of this project was to identify and to quantify the changes introduced by the Consorzio di Bonifica requalification actions.