LIFE SIMETORES

The hydrological cycle of urban areas can be highly compromised, and thus extreme precipitation events due to climate change can have very harmful effects. To reduce climate change impacts, a change in urban planning is therefore needed, re-naturalising the urban water cycle. This concept is clearly highlighted in EU water policies, especially in the Flood Directive, and in the regional policies of Sicily. The island’s river district flood plan points out the need for an extensive implementation of sustainable urban drainage system as an adaptation strategy to climate change.

The Simeto Valley is increasingly at risk of urban flooding, due to uncontrolled urbanisation stemming from the 1950s. According to regional climate model projections, due to the intensification of the hydrological cycle (i.e. extreme precipitation events), this risk is expected to increase in various municipalities in the Simeto River Valley, including the two smaller ones that are project’s partners, Ragalna and Santa Maria di Licodia.

LIFE SimetoRES will contribute to increasing the resilience of urban areas in the Simeto Valley to climate change impacts. By focusing on urban adaptation, it will contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the EU’s strategy for adaptation and of the Italian national strategy for climate change adaptation. The project emphasises that urban adaptation can be achieved by applying top-down and bottom-up approaches simultaneously. Policy-makers, technical operators and stakeholders in general must first stimulate urban adaptation measures, by promoting and financing the construction of blue-green infrastructures (BGIs) and by re-thinking existing areas. The bottom-up approach, on the other hand, aims to increase awareness about the impacts of climate change and encourage participatory planning to become part of the Simeto River Agreement process. Specifically, the project aims to:

• Promote BGIs as a best practice for the management of storm-water in a changing climate;
• Improve the knowledge of the local population and stakeholders on climate change adaptation, particularly in relation to urban storm-water management;
• Stimulate the inclusion of BGIs into municipal regulations, within the framework of the Simeto River Agreement; and
• Construct six blue-green infrastructures, based on sustainable urban drainage systems within the urban territory of the municipalities of Paternò and Ragalna.

Expected results:

• A short-term increase in the resilience of the municipalities participating in the project due to the implementation of BGIs.
• An increase of the awareness of flooding problems posed by climate change among stakeholders.
• The inclusion of BGIs in the SRA protocol and in local regulations.
• An increase, in the medium-term, of the resilience of the Simeto Valley Area, induced by the improved Simeto River Agreement.
• A better understanding of the advantages and roles ofBGIs outside the territory of the Simeto River Valley as a result of dissemination activities.
• Increased climate change mitigation potential, with the creation of green areas to act as CO2 sinks: reduction of the amount of CO2 emissions per year in the affected area by 2.5%.
• Improved local conditions as a result of the BGIs constructed and the SUDS, allowing a decrease of the runoff coefficient from 0.9 to 0.5 (ratio of runoff/rainfall), which corresponds to an improvement of 55%.