Background The Cornia River (Val di Cornia) is one of the three main hydrographic systems of the region’s water basin, part of the Northern Apennines river basin district. Due to an intensive civil and agricultural use of local water resources, the lower part of the river’s alluvial plain is characterised by a severe quantitative hydrological imbalance. As a result, the aquifer’s level has been gradually falling, facilitating seawater intrusion which, in turn, has lowered the ecological status of the coastal-marine waters and caused damage to adjacent terrestrial ecosystems (and in particular to the Natura 2000 site, “Padule Orti Bottagone” and the protected wetland, “della Sterpaia”). Access to good quality water for local residents, farmers and entrepreneurs is hence under severe threat, with water management costs bound to increase (due to higher energy costs linked to supply of well water). Objectives The principle objective of the LIFE REWAT project is to put in place, following a participatory approach, a strategy for integrated water resources management at sub-catchment level, proposing a governance model for sustainable development of the lower Val di Cornia. The specific objectives of the project are to: Create an integrated and structured knowledge base on the hydrological system of the Val di Cornia; Raise water users’ awareness of the importance of water saving and groundwater banking and actively involving them in the project; Demonstrate the technical feasibility, the economic viability and the environmental sustainability of five solutions for the management of natural and managed aquifer recharge and for general water saving in civil water supply and in agriculture; Develop an integrated governance model for the management of surface and groundwater at sub-catchment scale, based on a participatory process; and Sign a river basin contract, involving all stakeholders of the sub-catchment. Expected results: The LIFE REWAT project aims to achieve the following results: A reduction of water consumption by about 10% due to water-saving intervention in the civil water supply; A reduction of water consumption by about 20% due to water-saving intervention in agriculture; A reduction of water consumption by about 20% due to intervention for the reduction and sustainable management of storm water in urban areas; An estimated water infiltration of at least 360 000 m3/year due to the installation of a managed aquifer recharge facility; An increase of the current infiltration rate by at least 10% due to morphological restoration of a stretch of the Cornia river; and An improvement of the ecological status of the related water body due to geomorphologic restoration of said stretch of the Cornia river.