LIFE+ Rii Project

Bologna – Reducing flood risk of water courses by introducing and testing new intervention techniques to bring the stream to a structure closer to the natural one.
This is the innovative recipe that Emilia-Romagna is experimenting on six water streams located in the foothill of Reggio Emilia Province: Enzola, Bertolini, Arianna, Bottazzo, Quaresimo e Lavezza in the Municipalities of Albinea, Bibbiano, Quattro Castella and San Polo d'Enza, areas where the density of infrastructures and the high degree of urbanization lead to a high risk of flooding.
The project, started in September and co-financed by the EU Life Progamme for € 600,000, now can count on a website as a matter of fact the website will be the "virtual place" where citizens, institutions, business and social associations of the territory may be involved in the various phases of the project, receive a newsletter, participate in a discussion forum and consult all the documentation.
But not only that: the participatory process also includes meetings and demonstrations that will be arranged in the involved Municipalities.
Among the benefits, besides tackling the flood risk and thus reducing the cost of recovering from the flood damages, to the project will improve the quality of water, encouraging the natural self purification capacity of water bodies that are included in an area sensitive to pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources.