From June 8-18, 2016, CAEE Professor Dr. Franco Montalto, P.E. brought a group of 13 student to Venice, Italy as part of his Sustainable Water Resource Engineering class.
The theme of this year's class was Water and Jobs, the name also given to the 2016 World Water Development Report produced by World Water Assessment Program (WWAP). Since it is estimated that 3 out of 4 global jobs are water dependent, new approaches to water management can help to foster new forms of sustainable development. The group explored this theme with a focus on historical and contemporary water management strategies in Venice, a city of water.
After an introductory presentation by Dr. Angela Ortigara from WWAP, the trip began with a tour of the controversial Venice MOSE storm surge barrier project, followed immediately by technical presentations by some of its most vocal local critics.
The students then joined researchers from the University of Padua who are exploring strategies for engaging unemployed fisherman, refugees, and others in wetland restoration and river corridor restoration projects as part of the EU’s LIFE Vimine Project. The Drexel students collected water quality samples at the inlet and outlet of a tidal wetland in the Northern Venice lagoon in an effort to quantify its potential for improving water quality.
Other excursions included to Lazzaretto Nuovo, the city’s historical quarantine, to traditional fish farms in the Po Delta region, and to one of the region’s most historical flood control districts il Consorzio di Bonifica Delta Po Adige.
The project capstone was independent research conducted by the Drexel team on how various nature-based water management strategies could be incorporated into regional climate change adaptation planning in and around Venice. This work was presented to students and researchers at the IUAV University in Venice, an institution with which Drexel has an Erasmus + agreement to promote academic exchange on climate proofing cities. Water Resource Engineering
