MONTESE Wastewater Treatment Plant, Maserno, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The MONTESE wastewater treatment plant is located in Maserno, a locality within the municipality of Montese in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. It serves a population of approximately 3,163 people, making it a small-scale facility typical of rural or peri-urban communities in the Apennine foothills. The plant employs advanced treatment processes, which go beyond the secondary treatment required by the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) for agglomerations of this size. Its designed capacity is 3,800 m³/day, with a current discharge volume of 302.40 m³/day, indicating ample reserve capacity. As an Italian facility, it operates under national regulations transposing the EU directive, with oversight from regional environmental authorities. The treated effluent is discharged into local watercourses that drain toward the Panaro River, a tributary of the Po River, which ultimately flows into the Adriatic Sea. The plant's advanced treatment helps protect the sensitive aquatic ecosystems of the Po basin, which supports diverse fish species and is an important agricultural and ecological corridor in northern Italy.

The plant discharges into small streams that feed the Panaro River, a right-bank tributary of the Po River. The Po basin is Italy's largest river system, draining into the Adriatic Sea and supporting extensive agriculture, wetlands, and biodiversity. Advanced treatment at this plant reduces nutrient loads, helping to mitigate eutrophication risks in the downstream Po Delta and coastal Adriatic waters, which are ecologically sensitive areas.