INHABIT - Local hydro-morphology, habitat and RBMPs: new measures to improve ecological quality in South

INHABIT is a project which considers the enhancement of WFD measures proposed in river basin management plans within selected catchments of Piemonte and Sardegna regions, for both rivers and lakes, based on the study of habitat-biota relation and nutrient retention. The project aims at integrating information on local hydro-morphological features into practical measures to improve the reliability of implementation of WFD River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) in South Europe.

The outcome of the project will serve as a basis for the implementation of RBMPs over larger areas in Italy and, possibly, the whole of Europe. More specifically, the project has the following objectives: (i) to improve RBMPs covering a number of water body types, which are representative of Italian water courses and lakes, through the introduction of innovative measures that account for hydromorphological and habitat information; (ii) to quantify the natural variability in undisturbed conditions of selected hydromorphological, habitat and physico-chemical features, which are known to have a significant effect on biological communities; (iii) to quantify factors that affect ecological status classification; (iv) to put into practice the latest approaches and methods for the collection of WFD-compliant data, classification of ecological status and technical implementation of management plans in the study catchments; and (v) to update existing management plans to include measures related to hydro-morphological and habitat condition.