Pugss urban plans for the management of underground utilities 

The directive of the President of the Council of Ministers, dated 3 March 1999, “Rational disposition of technological systems in the subsoil”, also known as the Micheli directive, designates as a primary objective for local administrations the rationalization in the use of the underground and promotes, as a tool of enactment, the general master plan for underground uilities (PUGSS – Piano urbano generale dei servizi nel sottosuolo) to be developed in coherence with the current city planning tools.
The Regione Veneto has financed a study to define a “general methodology for drafting the PUGSS” that involves, in addition to the Regione itself (with its design unit for geographical information systems and cartography and the directions for the Protection of the Environment and City Planning), Etra spa (a company that manages the integrated water distribution services and waste collection in the region that extends from the Alto Padovano to the Euganean Hills, with capital owned entirely by 47 municipalities), Bim spa (company that manages the integrated water, gas and waste collection services, 100% owned by the municipalities of Belluno) and Insula spa (company for the urban maintenance of Venice).
This study, dated December 2005, whose goal is to define a general methodology for implementing general master plans for  underground utilities, intends to achieve a definition of the executive tools for planning the PUGSS, i.e.:

•   conceptual models
•   general explanatory guidelines
•   enactment regulations for use by the Muncipalities;
•   procedures for coordinating the works;
•   criteria and maps of criteria for the development of information systems.

The intent was also to test the possibility of application on several sample areas, thanks to the elaboration of several prototypes and in particular:

•   in areas of the territory under the responsibility of the City of Venice;
•   in flat or hilly areas, within the territory under the responsibility of Etra spa;
•   in the mountainous area, in territory under the responsibility of Bim spa.

The expected results were achieved, and the following final drawings were produced and delivered to the Regione in December 2006:

•   the general guidelines;
•   the city regulations for the enactment of the PUGSS;
•   the coordination procedure (attached to the regulations);

as well as the three prototypes that were tested through February 2007.