ABSTRACT
Since the late 19th century, a complex system of draining systems, culverts, and barrels allowed to subtract the land to floodwaters and dedicate it to agricultural production. The hydraulic lifting implants can be distinguished based on their function as irrigation and/or drainage systems. The former has an important economic function for agriculture, while the latter is essential for preserving the territory. The most important plants were built between 1920 and 1930. The majority were damaged during the World War II and were later rebuilt in the years1950/60 in the absence of anti-seismic regulations. Many of the buildings that contain these systems are subjected to protection restrictions by MiBACT (Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism).
These architectural constraints only allow interventions that are not excessively invasive. The buildings, therefore, whether consolidated and strengthened or not, can withstand earthquakes with return periods of about 100/150 years. Nevertheless, it is possible that while they are damaged and out of service, extreme meteorological events – such as extraordinary rainfalls - occur with such magnitude as to cause the flooding of thousands of hectares of land and numerous towns.
However, the use of modern high-speed pumps, which have much smaller dimensions compared with those in service with the same flow rate and hydraulic prevalence, can allow the use of light and modest-sized anti-seismic buildings for new lifting systems. This, together with new technologies that allow the remote control of the various equipment used to manage reclamation of the soil, can allow to reduce the hydraulic risk and make the combined hydrogeological and seismic risk unlikely.
