If they condemn Switzerland for climate inaction, then Sicily? There has been no water for years

by Gaetano Failla

On 29 July 2010 the United Nations General Assembly approved a Declaration (A64/L.63 with 122 votes) in favor which recognizes access to drinking water and sanitation services among fundamental human rights. Purpose: to invite States to provide funds, technology and other resources so that water and services are guaranteed to all.

I deduce that water is a good like the air we breathe (essential to life); in our adult bodies it represents approximately 60% of the weight and in newborns 75%. Air is not private property and cannot be sold as a commodity, it would become an air mafia, whoever can use it lives… if you can’t use it you die! Water in areas with water shortages, with inadequate distribution, with leaks in the pipes or with illegal methods, becomes, as we all know, a commodity and perhaps even a mafia. Recently the ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights) ruled that the failure to adequately address climate change in Switzerland violates human rights: “climate inaction” they call it with the inference that older people are vulnerable to heat waves due to their age.

In 1966 a reportage by Giuseppe Fava described the water shortage in Licata (AG). In 1967 Danilo Dolci reported that in Licata there was running water every 20 days (perhaps there is a dedicated road there). On 11 July 1969 the whole of Italy discovered the very serious crisis that had afflicted and still afflicts the Municipality of Licata for decades: the situation was already evident in the Istat data released in 1951. In 1974 Licata could have 10/12 liters per second, four years later the water extracted from the wells was sold at 50 lire per liter with the “barrel trucks”.

In Sicily and perhaps in other regions of the South the shower was a luxury that I began to have at home in 1976 Palermo; for many years I waited for the arrival of the tankers together with my family members, to have the tubs filled and transported “waving” up to the first floor they lost 50% of the precious liquid and I received slaps for spilling it. For a few weeks the president Schifani called for a national state of emergency due to the water crisis due to drought caused by climate change.

It is also necessary to evaluate that the losses for distribution in the Sicilian water network for homes, agriculture and the livestock sector were estimated at 51.6, preceded only by Sardinia with 52.8%. (Istat). From 1 April a control room (I don’t use “task force”, it’s a military term) will have to identify and coordinate rapid interventions. The dialogue was started with the Civil Protection. The minister Musumeci indicates that, to reach the end of the year by combating the drought, Sicily must recover 180 million cubic meters of water (half of the annual water resources). The Civil Protection will provide tankers, perhaps tankers (as in the Aeolian Islands for years), private wells will have to be requisitioned.

Forty years ago dams were built that have not yet been tested and which certainly require urgent maintenance. Despite the rivers of money from the Cassa del Mezzogiorno, up to the structural funds, some interventions will take years. Desalination plants will have to increase their capacity, no one knows how, and those that are not working will have to be repaired immediately.

In Sicily, human rights for water have been violated since the landing of the allies In the 1943 when it became the property of some organizations. The Region has allocated 1.3 billion for the Strait Bridge, is it a priority? What is the priority between water and bridge? As an old man on the street I would condemn Sicily and also Italy. And you?

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