A sediment-filter ecosystem for reservoir rehabilitation

In the recent years, in response to the increased need of water resources for different uses, the construction of artificial lakes has created many problems, causing an irreversible modification in the natural environment: the possibility of flooding over nearest areas is increased, new local climatic conditions are created and there is a loss in water and sediments that should be given back to the river downstream. Moreover, the mean lifetime of artificial lakes is greatly shortened by the amount of sediments from the rivers feeding into them. Thus, maintenance of these particular habitats by means of periodically sediment removing in order to keep a satisfactory level of functionality is necessary. To answer to this necessity and meanwhile to improve the environment quality, in this paper we propose a system, based on the integration of both classical and ecological engineering techniques, ables to: 1) refurnish satisfactory reservoir volumes by removing sediments from the bottom; 2) provide the possibility of reusing these sediments; and 3) increase local biodiversity. The case study is located in Southern Italy, in the Basilicata Region, and involves the Camastra Reservoir.