The Po River

The Po River is the longest Italian river, and its drainage area (about 74,000 km²) encompasses much of the northern region of Italy, with > 20 million inhabitants, as well as areas of intensive industrial and agricultural activities. It is a crucial resource for the Italian economy. The Po enters the Adriatic Sea with a mean flow of 1,470 m³ s^-1. A peculiar element of the Po hydrography is represented by its Delta, starting 50 km from the sea.

INSPIRE will focus on retention and collection/removal technologies and actions to reduce litter and macroplastic pollution in the Po River in Italy.

• Collection
  A hybridization of the River Cleaning System of MOLD will be combined with the MINDS collection cage of the CLEAN TRASH system developed in the CLAIM project, which will be tested for its litter removal efficiency.
• Detection
  Four methods will be applied to identify and quantity the plastic pollution problem. The monitoring app and Drone flights over the riverbank, fixed cameras mounted on a bridge spanning the Po river, sampling from a boat with Ferrybox and Mantanet. Moreover, litter collected from the river in the CLEAN TRASH cage will be quantified and classified as well.
• Prevention