The lagoon of Venice is the largest Italian Lagoonand one of the largest in Europe. It is located in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea (45.2° - 45.6°N, 12.2° and 12.6°E). Three narrow inlets connect thelagoon to the Adriatic sea, entailing a subdivision in three sub-basins, separated by two watersheds along which the intensity of the tidal currents is low. Part of the lagoon is devoted to aquacultureand closed to water exchanges;the surface open to tidal expansion and assessed as relevant for LOICZ computation (beneath 0 m on the sea level, estimated from CVN 1990 bathymetry), is 360 km2, with a volume of 0.545 Km3 and an average depth of 1.5 m.The drainage basin is densely populated and conveys into the lagoon both industrial and agricultural waste waters. The loads of nitrogen and phosphorous which are discharged into the lagoon by the tributaries were estimated by DRAIN project (MAV-CVN, 2001), during which the main tributaries have been monitored for nearly two years (1998 - 2000). The largest fraction of these loads of nitrogen and phosphorous is discharged into the Northern sub-basin.[Read the following Document to Continue..]