Paolo Espa

TL;DR: The downstream ecological consequences of two controlled free flow flushing operations designed to remove sediments accumulated in an alpine reservoir are described in this paper, where the main objectives of the study were (a) to verify to what extent the suspended solid concentration (SSC) in the receiving water course can be controlled by flushing operation, (b) to determine the biological consequences, and (c) to produce technical guidelines for the future planning and monitoring of these activities.

TL;DR: Stream quality metrics based on macroinvertebrate data evidenced the impairment due to flushing; however, the benthic community showed high resilience, recovering to pre-flushing conditions in 6-9 months.

TL;DR: The results of a 3-year field investigation concerning the controlled sediment flushing of a small reservoir on the Adda River, the main tributary of Lake Como, were presented in this article.

TL;DR: The density of trout populations was impacted as well, thus suggesting the adoption of mitigating strategies as removal by electrofishing before, and repopulation after the CSFOs, and the time employed to recover pre-CSFO standard ranged from few months to just under one year.

TL;DR: The ecological quality was good/high on average at all of the investigated reaches, thus complying the Water Framework Directive standards, and the highest level of diversity was detected at sites where upstream minimum flow exceedance is higher and further anthropogenic pressures are lower.