After years, Naples regains a coastal stretch suitable for bathing in East Naples, that of Pietrarsa, in a coastal area on which there is still much to be done in terms of environmental restoration. The outcome of the Arpac monitoring carried out on 23 April was positive: “For the first time a beach in East Naples becomes suitable for bathing thanks to the important interventions on the sewers being carried out in San Giovanni a Teduccio, which are giving the first concrete results thanks to a intense and systematic work by the Municipality and ABC Napoli”, specifies a note from Palazzo San Giacomo.
The sampling by the regional environmental protection agency gave a “green” rating on the quality of the water for the stretch between Sannicandro and the Pietrarsa railway museum, “a coastal area – writes the agency – mainly artificial with cliffs protection of the coastline and intense urbanisation”. The report indicates the underground utilities tunnel in Vico II Marina as one of the causes of greatest pollution.
The investigations excluded the concentration above the limits of intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli, which is crucial for judging the water to be technically suitable for bathing. The data is being updated. There are three levels of judgement: three stars are equivalent to “excellent”, two “good”, one “poor”.
The “poor” level for Pietrarsa is already indicated in the union ordinance of April 4th on bathing waters in Naples in view of the bathing season which runs from May 1st to September 30th. Among the 18 bathing spots, from Nisida to Posillipo, to via Partenope, the ban was only for Pietrarsa. However, the areas with “waters not used for bathing and permanently prohibited” have been confirmed: the port, the moorings of Mergellina and via Nazario Sauro, Bagnoli, the military area of Nisida, the marine area protected by the Gaiola and the northern stretch of San Giovanni to Teduccio from the former collector at the port.
Yet, even on this beach, as in Bagnoli and other coasts of Naples, bathers and squatters arrive every summer with deckchairs and umbrellas. The Infrastructure Department led by Edoardo Cosenza with responsibility for the Sea confirms, therefore, that “the stretch of Pietrarsa beach is suitable for bathing again”.
During the season there will be periodic sampling by Arpac on the basis of which it will be possible to revoke bathing in a specific area at any time, where there is an increase in polluting and harmful agents: this is the case of “overflow” which with the heavy rains automatically trigger the discharge of sewers into the sea.
“The data for Pietrarsa, to be confirmed later – the Municipality specifies – testifies to the extent of the ongoing activity in terms of purification to return to citizens spaces and resources that have long been removed from public use”.
The Municipality wants to recover the forbidden sea in those free beaches hitherto intended and equipped only for heliotherapy. In San Giovanni, the refunctionalization of the sewerage system is underway to eliminate the discharges present on the coast, an intervention extended to the collectors of the entire territory east of the city.
Not only that: on 19 April, on the proposal of the Cosenza councillor, the council approved the preliminary design for the restoration and refunctionalisation of the cliff in front of the area of the former San Giovanni purification plant with 3.6 million for the “Naples” project along the east terrace overlooking the sea” of the CIS “Vesuvio Pompei Napoli” with FSC funds 2014-2020. The urban regeneration of San Giovanni a Teduccio particularly concerns the seaside area.
The first section recovered was precisely that of Pietrarsa: now, we will proceed with the neighboring one, that of the former purifier. The Pnrr instead includes a cycle path, the recovery of the former Corradini and the redevelopment of the area of the railway station with the underpass towards the sea.
