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The Po River, Italy

The longest river in Italy, the river Po, flows eastward across northern Italy from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic Sea near Venice. The 652 km long river has a 74 000 km² drainage area of which 41 000 km² is mountainous and the remaining 29 000 km² is located in the Po valley encompassing the lowland plain of rich soil. There are 450 lakes in the drainage basin, and 141 tributaries add to the river that discharges an average 1540 m³/s into the Adriatic Sea through a wide delta. The amount of water discharged by Po is approx. 50% of the total freshwater input to the northern Adriatic Sea.

On the North side the flux of water is regulated by five large lakes. These lakes are directly connected to the main tributaries of the Po River. The retention of water, nutrient and particulate material in the lakes reduce the discharge of pollutants to the river. The landscape has changed due to increased urbanisation and intensified agriculture production over the past century. In recent years a large proportion of the natural vegetation (nearly 25%) in the riparian zone of the Po river has been replaced with plantations of poplars harvested for cellulose.

Due to an uneven precipitation pattern, the river is subject to periodic heavy flooding which is intensified by the fast runoff from the increasing urban areas. More than half the river length is controlled with a system of dikes to prevent flood damage.