The sediment quality of the Po river and the Italian Decree no. 152/99 for the protection of aquatic environments.

Comprehensive and contemporary evaluations of physical, chemical and toxicological endpoints have been performed on bed sediments collected from ten representative areas of the Po river. The two sampling campaigns were paralleled by contemporary investigations on the macroinvertebrate community. The many results of this project have provided the first description of the sediment quality of the major Italian watercourse, but, besides this, the Po sediment project also accomplished another important objective, that is the evaluation of several indicators and techniques to investigate the sediment quality changes along a large riverine environment. The results and the analysis that supported this objective are briefly reported and discussed in this document, which also examines the experimental design of the Po sediment project. All being key factors of an effective implementation of complex environmental legislations such as the Italian Decree no. 152/99.