AIPO and ARPAE Emilia Romagna

REQUIREMENTS

In 2009, AIPO (Interregional Agency for River Po) and ARPAE (Regional Agency for Prevention, the Environment and Energy) in Emilia Romagna decided to implement a monitoring and remote control system for the Mincio Basin, to help defend the city of Mantova against hydraulic and hydrologic risks.

The main activities involving the management of the systems for the Mincio Basin are dictated by the need to:

• defend the city of Mantova against flooding by managing the high-water levels;
• maintain the “minimum vital water flow”, safeguarding the chemical and physical properties of the water and the ecosystem;
• supply water to agriculture and industry. Respectively for irrigation and energy production purposes in the hydroelectric power stations in Montina and Montecorno;
• maintain levels to ensure navigation;
• regulate the water levels in Lake Garda and the Mincio for local tourism;
• manage water level adjustments of the Adige river originating from the Mori-Tobole tunnel between the Adige river and Lake Garda.

FEATURES

The project was designed and implemented in RTI by CAE and MISA Srl, a leading Italian company in the design and implementation of large-scale, remote-controlled systems for managing and lifting water, as well as regulating floodgates in wide geographic areas.

The Mincio river is the only emissary from Lake Garda and to be able to tackle all the above- mentioned requirements, it is managed through a control and regulation system using floodgates connected to hydro-meteorological monitoring stations. The entire system is integrated into the monitoring network for Emilia Romagna, Veneto and the province of Trento.

The floodgates can be managed manually, i.e. only after a command given by an operator, or automatically, e.g. following a predefined logic so the floodgate is adjusted to a specific level. One of the logical settings is aimed at guaranteeing the maximum efficiency of all the hydroelectric power stations located along the river, with which the floodgates interface, thanks to a system developed by CAE.

The system also includes an alert service which sends an SMS to pre-configured numbers when specific situations occur, such as blackouts, or when pre-defined thresholds are exceeded, signalling a flood risk, based on the hydraulic model. To be able to provide this service, system operation must be guaranteed in any environmental conditions, especially during adverse weather conditions.

COMPOSITION

Work on the plants:

• Remote position detection of 21 floodgates (21 floodgate position measuring systems)
• Remote detection of 14 hydrometric levels (ten stations)
• Local manual and remote opening control of 21 floodgates (8 electrical panels)
• Automatic level controls of ten floodgate groups (10 PLC systems): Salionze (Mincio), Salionze (Virgilio), Salionze (Seriola), Pozzolo, Marenghello, Casale di Goito, Vasarone, Formigosa Botte-Sifone, Formigosa Scaricatore, Vallazza, Governolo
• Image of plant

Radio network interventions:

• Data exchange through Veneto-Trentino Alto Adige-Emilia Romagna network
• Radio repeater for local remote-controlled network