Implemenation of SWAT+ for the study of water retention measures in a small agro-forested basin

Despite its historical abundance of water resources, the Po River plain has seen an increase in drought episodes since the 80s (Baronetti et al., 2019). Over the past few decades, in fact, it has experienced a significant decline in average summer rainfall levels, accompanied by an increase in rainfall intensity, leading to more frequent floods. Additionally, the number of rainy days has decreased, particularly during spring and summer, contributing to lower river flows during the dry season (Massarutto and Musolino, 2021). Agriculture stresses the Po River basin water resources substantially more than any other productive sector, surpassing 80% of total withdrawn volume (Massarutto and Musolino, 2021). Local experts and stakeholders (Assimacopou-los et al., 2014) highlight how among the above-mentioned vulnerability factors, the most critical one was the lack of infrastructures for storing surface and ground water. Regarding this issue, the key function of green infrastructures for water retention and groundwater recharge, such as wetlands and ponds, is broadly covered in scientific literature (Simon et al., 2023, Kumar et al., 2021). Natural Smal Water Retention Measures (NSWRM) are such measures that can be easily implemented at farmscale/ fieldscale level, specifically suitable for catchments with land occupation mostly of agriculture and forestry categories (Lemann et al., 2022). This study aims to assess the potential impact of several NSWRMs in a study basin part of the agro – forested Cherio river watershed, currently affected by the above – mentioned hydrological critical aspects. Ad – hoc measures were select-ed based on their effectiveness on site – specific issues, and their suitability for the territory features and management. The SWAT+ model was applied to a study basin, to simulate several NSWRMs implementation scenarios, introduc-ing a novel model setup approach that could appropriately and realistically rep-resent simulated objects connectivity at a field scale.