Background One of the main objectives of the Sixth Environment Action Programme of the European Community is to achieve levels of water quality that do not give rise to unacceptable impacts on human health and the environment. Significant improvements in water efficiency have been seen in nearly all industrial sectors. But, these have yet to be translated into significant improvements in the agricultural and domestic sectors. The problem tackled by this project was the environmental deterioration of small catchments – comprising rural villages, small industries and farms. The impacts produced by pollutants and by modifications to the environment are seen in reduced water-quality, lost biodiversity and diminished landscapes. Although several Community directives and national laws regulate polluting emissions (both concentrated and spread), by setting limits on quantities of products that can be released into the environment, these measures cannot restore already degraded areas. Objectives The main objective of the project focused on the planning and direction of public and private works, addressing the management of sources of pollution that flowed into the Sellustra River. Areas at risk from erosion would also be controlled. Restoration of the environment would be achieved by means of 'Constructed wetland', 'buffer strips' and 'bioengineering'. Although these three techniques had already demonstrated their effectiveness in improving environmental quality, there were only a few cases of their practical application on a real-scale, and even fewer examples of an integrated application within a single catchment area. Expected results would be in water-quality improvement; landscape-restoration; an increase of biodiversity; and erosion control along the river's banks. These results would be constantly monitored by mean of specific bio-indicators in order to evaluate the reliability of the techniques applied. The environmental problem tackled by the project was the degradation of surface waters in small catchments with scattered rural villages, small industries and farms. An integrated approach consisting of buffer strips’ promotion, bio-engineering anti-erosion techniques and ‘rustic’ wastewater treatment (constructed wetland) was tested and widely promoted. Bio-monitoring techniques were implemented in order to verify the efficiency of the actions. Results The overall project outcome was satisfactory, although not outstanding. • The constructed wetland (SFS-H type, or ‘reed beds’) showed very good efficiency in lowering the organic charge of sewer waste-waters - reducing COD to 73 mg/l, a value significantly lower than the national legal limits (125 mg/l). This was despite the fact that the plant was still in the start up phase and its efficiency was at 90% of its potential capacity at the end of the project. • The end-of-project efficiency was in line with the initial expectations and with the average figures for SFS-H type plants. Unfortunately, the improvement of the river-water quality was inconsistent - confined to the water out-flowing of the phyto-depuration plant itself. In fact, a significant industrial outflow just downstream of the plant overrode the benefits stemming from the project’s wetland. This raised the need for an integrated approach at the river-basin scale. • The approach was pursued by the beneficiary through programme agreements with HERA SpA, a multiservices firm managing sewer networks and water-supply to a huge region (138 municipalities in the provinces of Bologna, Forlì, Ravenna, Cesena and Rimini for more than two million people). Perhaps influenced by the LIFE project’s activity in promoting and disseminating its environmental objectives and methodologies, HERA released a Plan for Restoration of the Sewer Plant, to include only phytodepuration techniques. • The municipality of Dozza approved the Regulation on sewers and depuration (undersigned by HERA) where phytodepuration plants were clearly mentioned as the optimal solution even for small settlements. Furthermore, HERA planned the replication of the experience in other municipalities. • The benefits of the bio-engineering works along the watercourse were evaluated on the basis of an exhaustive bio-monitoring program. The bio-engineering works gave appreciable results in terms of both banks’ consolidation and increment of the morphological diversity. This was achieved, despite the prolonged draught of the summer of 2003. • All the river sections concerned by the bio-engineering works were characterised by an improvement in the landscape and in river functionality. However, the improvement in physical, chemical and ecological parameters was less than expected. The expected improvement was of one class after two years for macro-descriptors and ecological river state and it was as high as two classes for E.B.I. In fact, only limited improvement was noticed while the water-quality and the river ecosystem worsened, on average. It must be stated that this was not attributable to failure of the re-qualification works, but to the anomalous climatic conditions, which amplified the negative effects of agricultural and industrial polluting activities scattered in the catchments’ area. The beneficiary notes that is a matter of time. The positive effects highlighted by index I.F.F. suggested that a progressive improvement of the benthonic community and of the overall ecological conditions are to be expected, even though this will require longer times, in line with the settling times of river ecosystems. • Dissemination efforts succeeded in raising awareness on landscape- effectiveness and environmental sustainability of bio-engineering techniques, which have already been replicated by the local River Basin Authority. • Buffer strip promotion among farmers led to the submission of applications for funding on Region agri-environmental measures. But these clashed with the minimal requisites set by the Region calls, and were not suited to the small acreages of the farms located in the Sellustra area. Instead, promotion efforts among institutions led to a remarkable result: WBS was included among the interventions eligible for PSR-2I funding. Bologna Province Authority financed two WBS projects concerning the Sellustra basin under measure 2I. Overall, the project achieved its concrete, essential results through the above-mentioned actions. The project met obvious difficulties in showing direct environmental benefits, like many other projects focusing on actions with a landscape value. However, remarkable efforts were carried out by the beneficiary in order to involve the institutions and to promote local policies in line with the environmental approach typical of the project. These efforts achieved the following significant results: - Highlighting the role that a small municipal administration can play in promoting initiatives regarding river restoration; - Emphasising the importance of starting with in-depth planning at the basin level, involving all parties interested in the territory to ensure the design and subsequent implementation of focused and effective measures; - Favouring cultural growth and sharing of environmental subjects at a local and regional level; - Implementing pilot measures that could act as flywheels in spreading the use of low environmental impact techniques throughout the Sellustra basin, as well as in other environments.