The Council of Ministers will examine this afternoon the request made by the Region for the “declaration of the state of emergency in relation to the ongoing water deficit situation in Sicily”. The President of the Region, Renato Schifani, will participate in the meeting at Palazzo Chigi, scheduled for 5.30 pm. Meanwhile, the «Together for water» Committee expresses concern about the persistent stalemate in the reopening of the connecting link between the Gammauta Dam and the Castello Dam . «Despite the note dated April 30th with which the prefect ordered the transfer of the water flow, to date this movement has not yet been carried out.
Belt maintenance
The closure of the link road, which occurred on 27 April for maintenance work, is causing serious repercussions on the water supply in the area”, explains the committee. “The reopening of the link road is essential – it adds – to guarantee the regular flow of water and avoid the risk of serious water shortages, especially in view of the upcoming summer season. The Agrigento 3 reclamation consortium did not respond to the request for an official meeting, sent via certified email on 22 April. At the same time, the situation on the water front is worsening in central Sicily, in particular in the provinces of Enna and Caltanissetta, where the water crisis which led to reductions of up to 30% was also added to the suspension of supply due to two separate faults in the pipeline near the Ancipa dam.
Failures multiply
To the first failure, another was added after the operations to restart the supply, causing six days of non-supply, demonstrating the fact that even today the water pipeline connecting to the Ancipa dam is old. A technical table was convened in Caltanissetta to Prefecture given that the emergency has had repercussions on bars and restaurants but also in schools both in the capital and in some other municipalities. Many citizens provided themselves with bins (as happened years ago during periods of severe drought) to cope with the lack of water, while several restaurateurs and bars were unable to open to customers precisely because their tanks were empty. In Enna the president of Ati, Nino Cammarata, called the mayors’ assembly for Thursday to ask SiciliAcque for an investment plan on the water network given the continuous damage and said he was ready to take the necessary actions to protect citizens. Also in Enna yesterday morning some neighborhoods and districts were still dry, to the disbelief and anger of numerous citizens who pointed out that the province of Enna is the one in which the water fee is among the most expensive in the country. Italy in the face of continuous critical issues. To deal with the inconveniences, AcquaEnna has made tanks available for the supply of water.
