It will take about three months to empty the water from the Bargi hydroelectric power plant on Lake Suviana, in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. This is what emerged from a meeting at the Prefecture in Bologna, in which institutions, the Carabinieri, the Fire Brigade and the top management of Enel Green Power took part: among them the CEO Salvatore Bernabei, the external relations director Nicolò Mardegan and the Italy manager Carlo Pignoloni , in addition to Enel’s security manager Valerio Giardina, former provincial commander of the Carabinieri of Bologna. “The plans, if everything works, would see the emptying before the summer, at the end of July”, said the prefect Attilio Visconti on the sidelines. However, while the water level continues to rise since an explosion killed seven people and injured as many on April 9, the modalities of the intervention have not yet been decided. Two hypotheses on the table. The first involves using a train of high-tech modules to filter the water, free it from oils and other substances and release it into the lake. This system would be assembled ad hoc and is the one preferred by the parties, but its feasibility must be verified. The second hypothesis involves continuing to empty the plant with pumps and tankers. But according to what emerged from the table, 75 per day would be needed: between return trips they make 150 trips, in a tourist period for the Apennines. A “terrible” hypothesis, Visconti defines it. The water is entering from two entrances: some damage to the pipes and drainage pumps does not prevent the flow of the spring, but it is also coming from the lake through a bulkhead that does not close completely. The fire brigade divers will fix it, but first the ideal hydraulic conditions will have to be reached: the internal water level must be 80-100 centimeters lower than that of the lake. This should happen around May 4-5. Then the emptying with tankers could start immediately. The modular system would probably start in the second half of May, but would proceed faster. The issue is delicate because the Suviana basin serves Bologna’s drinking water and for this reason Arpae carries out continuous surveys, which will intensify when the actual intervention begins. Both interventions, however, protect the environment, assures Visconti. Only once the emptying has been completed will it be possible to begin carrying out the assessments necessary for the investigations. Meanwhile the police are listening to the witnesses. Meanwhile, the funeral of Vincenzo Garzillo, 68 years old, the seventh victim of the massacre, was held in Naples. “Every victim in the workplace is a scandal, we cannot get used to the fact that work, which is a source of life, leads to death. Time for responsibility and safety is necessary, which is not a cost”, he said in the the archbishop, Don Mimmo Battaglia, delivered his homily. “They call them white deaths, but they are not white because they dirty the conscience – added the archbishop – There can be no justice without work just as there can be no work without justice. Safety is a duty, not a cost”. Before Don Battaglia, Garzillo’s daughter, Fara, had spoken. “If only I had known she-she said-I would have given you one last hug. You were our captain, our guide, our lighthouse, our advisor, our backbone.” Four injured remain in hospital, one of whom is out of danger.
