OBJECTIVES

The ultimate objective of the actions promoted by the Life TRELAGHI project is to achieve a consistent reduction of eutrophicating elements (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the waters of the lakes involved. The initiatives undertaken in the project are in fact designed to drastically reduce the quantities of phosphates and nitrates that enter the lakes in waste water from human settlements and farming activities.

The actions implemented by the project guarantee the safeguarding of the aquatic environments in order to improve the quality of the biotypes in the area and to foster the development of eco-sustainable tourism and agricultural activities.

In order to decontaminate the water, seven distinct tasks have been included in the project, each with its own specific objective. The inclusion of each task within the context of the project is consistent with a structure that points to the general objectives of LIFE Environment, giving prominence to the priorities, as follows:

• project management with communication of the results to the European Community (task 1);
• propagation, promotion and transferability of the project to other European areas (task 2);
• actions necessary to obtain a reduction in eutrophication (tasks 3, 4, 5);
• actions necessary to monitor results (task 6);
• training activities and certification of the results (task 7).

Actions and means involved
The planned undertakings lower the amount of phosphates and nitrates that residential settlements, farming and food industry empty into the lakes.
"Local tasks" (task 3) are filter-ecosystems that interpose themselves between direct discharge of wastewater and lake watersheds and that are made of innovating treatment plants obtained enriching vegetation roots with bacteriums and mycorrhizas and using zeolites and iron scoriae as catalysts.
"Tasks on extended areas" (task 4) aim to biologic reactivation of the farming soil using mycorrhizas instead of chemical dressings.
Fertilization by mycorrhizas is cheaper than the chemical one and the agricultural product has a better quality.
"Territorial tasks" (task 5) try to reactivate Candia marsh restoring the natural drawing power of wet areas plants.

Expected results
The three kind of tasks furthered perform a solid knocking down of the facts that increase eutrophication, such as N and P, taking them away from water carrier and putting them into biomass of cleaner systems.
The demonstrative and repeatable nature of the scheme all over the different European wet areas is inborn in the project aspect that has concerned on purpose three little lakes that are placed in climatic, environmental and economical realities which can represent all European wet areas.