Sicily, 180 million cubic meters of water are missing: the paradox of broken bulkheads and disused watermakers

Water crisis and Sicilian paradoxes. Two incredible stories that concern the Italian region which is among the areas most affected by drought in Europe. Despite the water crisis (irrigation and drinking) which dramatically affects many parts of Sicily, Part of the water from the Ponte Barca di Paternò reservoir ends up in the sea — which is located in an Oasis of the largest Sicilian river, the Simeto —. Farmers complain that while citrus groves and other crops suffer from a lack of water, the precious commodity is largely wasted because there are dysfunctions in the bulkheads. In essence, the water of the largest Sicilian river (whose sources are in the Nebrodi Mountains) which crosses a part of eastern Sicily up to the outlet towards the Ionian Sea, should be retained by the bulkheads in the Paternò reservoir (a city surrounded by countryside and at the foot of Etna). It is evident that as the water is not retained, and in the absence of rain, the level of the reservoir decreases.

The area is located in the heart of the Simeto Valley. In the Oasis, a naturalistic and environmental heritage – many species of birds stop there during migration, including flamingos – there is a reservoir that contains significant water resources (which have been decreasing in recent times due to little rain) . The crucial point, farmers and producers add, is that the dysfunctions affect six bulkheads, therefore the waste of water is huge. It seems paradoxical but it is a real fact, not even in an area rich in water (like that of Etna) is it possible to adequately conserve an asset of great value for the communities and for the cultivation of the fields. On a technical and concrete level, due to the losses of non-retained water, some irrigation canals of the Eastern Sicily Reclamation Consortium cannot be supplied. And therefore, there is a negative impact on land irrigation.

The issue is very problematic because these are fields in the Catania Plain, the most fertile on the island. There are citrus groves, olive groves, artichoke cultivations and other land products. The extraordinary commissioner of the Eastern Sicily Reclamation Consortium, Calogero Ferrantello, intervened publicly announcing that there will be rapid interventions to repair a bulkhead. Economic resources have been found but at present only for one bulkhead in six.

But that’s not all, on the other side of the island there is the case of the abandoned Trapani Nubia watermaker. The Municipality asks the Region to restart it. It’s been standing still for decades. It was built in an atmosphere of great hope in the 1990s, it should have represented a solution to the water shortages of Trapani and the Agrigento area. To be able to reach the end of the year, Sicily, where water supply is already rationed in more than a hundred municipalities to combat drought, would have to recover 180 million cubic meters of water, half of the water resources necessary for ordinary management annual. These are figures indicated by the Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, Nello Musumeci. In Sicily, already hit in 2023 by great heat, drought and fires, in the months of the new year it rained very little.

For the interventions defined as priorities, the Basin Authority of the island’s river basin district has estimated that investments of 720 million euros are needed, 130 million for short-term measures and 590 million for medium-term ones. The Sicilian government has allocated 16 million euros to tackle the water crisis and help the agricultural sector. It is clear that many more resources are needed. The regional government has called for a national state of emergency over the water crisis. Sicily is currently the region of Italy in which the effects of climate change are most visible. What happens today on the island and in other parts of the South could soon happen in other places in Italy. We need concrete answers and a wide-ranging project on a national and European level.

April 22, 2024

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