Safeguard and promoting the qanat of Shahrood Province (Iran)

A1P/5 - CULTURAL PROMOTION OF THE ANCIENT WATER DISTRIBUTION WORKS AND RECLAMATION OF LAKE FUCINO Ezio BURRI1 - Angelo FERRARI2 1Department of Environmental Sciences - L'AQUILA University (Italy) 2CNR Institute of Chemical Methodologies - CNR - ROMA Before the mid-19th century, Lake Fucino was considered Italy's third biggest lake. It had no natural emissaries and was subject to frequent raising of water levels, with consequent flooding of the neighbouring areas. To remedy this serious problem, it was decided in the 1st century AD to regulate the waters by constructing an underground collector of about 6km. Subsequently, for structural reasons and lack of maintenance, the entire hydraulic works collapsed, allowing the lake surface to recover, once more triggering the ancient flooding problem. In the mid-1800s a new tunnel was built, mainly superposed on the old structure and Lake Fucino was completely reclaimed. At the moment, both hydraulic works and all accessories (wells and sloping tunnels) are in a good state of repair. A new scheme is about to upgrade them for cultural and tourist purposes, as part of a project called "Parco Naturalistico-Archeologico dei Cunicoli di Claudio" [Nature and Archaeology Park in the Claudian Tunnels].