YouTube video by REWET

Last week, the Po River reached a discharge level not seen in years. On Sunday, April 20th, 2025, the flow peaked at around 8,000 m3/s. At the Gussola oxbow lake—Open Lab 6 of the REWET project—the river overflowed its banks, flooding the surrounding fields for nearly a kilometer. All the riparian zones were inundated, and for several days, water remained on the land, most of which is normally used for poplar cultivation.

The Gussola oxbow lake in Cremona Province underwent a requalification intervention during the early phase of the REWET project (March 2023), which involved reconnecting the oxbow lake to the Po River. Before the intervention, the oxbow lake was largely disconnected from the Po River due to navigation groins, leading to water scarcity, stagnation, and hypoxia. The requalification intervention included lowering a navigation groin, which is expected to help mitigate further incision processes by distributing the transport capacity between the main course of the Po River and the oxbow lake.