https://doi.org/10.4081/jae.2023.1485

Hydrologic performance assessment of nature-based solutions: a case study in North-eastern Italy

Vol. 54 No. 2 (2023)
Submitted: 22 July 2022
Accepted: 14 September 2022
Published: 2 February 2023
Nature-based solutions, low impact development, hydro-meteorological hazards, risk mitigation and adaptation, field-scale experiment, hydrological monitoring.
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Authors

Tommaso Baggio
tommaso.baggio@unipd.it
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8730-8678
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, TESAF, University of Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy.
Francesco Bettella
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, TESAF, University of Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy.
Lucia Bortolini
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6863-4542
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, TESAF, University of Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy.
Vincenzo d'Agostino
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, TESAF, University of Padova, Legnaro (PD), Italy.

The consequences of climate change are exacerbated by landuse changes, which influence rainfall-runoff relations and, consequently, flood risk. Effectively, urbanisation is steadily contributing to increasing impervious areas and reducing the time-to-peak. The effect of nature based solutions (NBSs) on mitigating these phenomena is recognised. Nevertheless, these kinds of sustainable infrastructures are still barely known and scarcely adopted in many parts of European Countries. The LIFE BEWARE project aims to enhance hydraulic safety and spread good practices in rainwater management by promoting and facilitating the adoption of NBSs in the Altovicentino area (Northern Vicenza Province, Veneto Region, Italy). To support the dissemination activities, some full-scale NBSs have been created within the municipality areas involved in the project. The hydrological impact of the structures is continuously monitored thanks to the installation of devices measuring inlet and outlet runoff and rainfall patterns. This study aims to analyse the monitoring data of the first two years of the built NBSs. Results show that the structures managed almost all the water runoff through processes of infiltration and retention, providing additional insights into understanding the real behaviour of NBSs exposed to the specific environmental conditions of a very rainy foothills area. In particular, mean rain intensity and rainfall duration are the variables that mostly affected the structure performance, especially for events prolonged over time (2-3 days) with mean rainfall intensity in the range of 2-3 mm/h. Therefore, the overall outcomes from this analysis were useful for improving the design of NBSs and further promoting their installation in urban areas.

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How to Cite

Baggio, T., Bettella, F., Bortolini, L. and d’Agostino, V. (2023) “Hydrologic performance assessment of nature-based solutions: a case study in North-eastern Italy”, Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 54(2). doi: 10.4081/jae.2023.1485.
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