Optimization of Water Resources in Highly Regulated Rivers: A Case Study from the Garda-Mincio Basin, Italy

Water management represents a challenge especially in those river basins where increasing diversity and quantity of water demands require a continuous adaptation of flow regime regulation, also in view of higher uncertainty in water availability. Here, a well-balanced use of water resources is sought for the Garda-Mincio basin (Italy), a highly regulated freshwater system where the existing regulation infrastructure is presently showing its limits for sustaining increasing water demands while accounting for the present Fluvial Ecosystem Services (FES). A first analysis is carried out for the distinctive system of the Salionze Dam, setting a multiobjective optimization problem for the reservoir operation. Preliminary results highlighted the important role played by the Lake Garda as a reservoir to accomplish downstream hydropower production requirements. Moreover, the analyses carried out stress the importance of stakeholders involvement in defining new operational rules of the existing hydraulic infrastructures.