Safe river, the campaign by the Forestry Carabinieri: in Campania more than one crime was found per day

OfFabrizio Geremicca

In the month of April alone, 35 reports for 34 crimes were detected from the Alto Casertano to the Vesuvius National Park in Sarno. Illegal activities also occurred in Irpinia and the Salerno area

Thirty-five complaints and 34 administrative offenses confirmed, following 183 checks carried out in April. These are numbers that clearly show that the rivers and streams in Campania are under attack by polluters and speculators. The investigation campaign that i Forestry Carabinieri have conducted and which is part of the operation “Safe river 2024”, established at a national level to prevent phenomena that alter the hydrogeological balance of freshwater courses, has highlighted an alarming situation in the region.

The range of illicit conduct is vast which have been contested: violations regarding illegal withdrawals from watercourses, diversions of riverbeds for unauthorized constructions, excavations and thefts of aggregates, waste spills and illegal discharges. Here are some examples. In Sassinoro, in the province of Benevento, the Carabinieri of the Pontelandolfo Forestry Unit have reported 4 people involved in the operations of furtive collection and receiving of rocks and stones and other lithoid material of the Sassinoro stream. The collection of river aggregates – the Foresters inform – has caused a profound change in the general structure of the river ecosystem. The vehicles used (2 excavators and 2 trucks) and the land of approximately 10,000 square meters where the construction of warehouses was also planned were seized. TO Matese Castle, in the province of Caserta, the Carabinieri of the San Gregorio Matese Forestry Unit have seized a livestock farm. During the inspection of the stables and surrounding land, the presence of an unauthorized discharge of turbid brown water into a mountain spring water stream, an tributary to Lake Matese below, was ascertained. Along the course of the SarnoThen, the Foresters of Castellammare di Stabia identified a garage that operated without any authorization and had no industrial waste collection areas. The waste oils percolated directly onto the ground. Similar situation a Round, in the province of Avellino, where two people were reported by the Cervinara Forestry Unit who ran a garage in an area subject to an absolute ban on building construction and near the Carpignano stream. The military seized the car workshop square and 2 buildings. TO They whistle, then, in the province of Salerno, the Carabinieri of the Sarno Forestry Unit identified a discharge of whitish colored water into the Calvagnola stream, which falls within the Sarno catchment area. Thanks to the collaboration of Arpac, they managed to trace the origin of the wastewater. The drain was not registered and was in use by a factory in the area. 3 people reported.

Illegal acts do not spare the Vesuvius National Park. In Ercolano the men of the Torre del Greco Park Carabinieri Unit reported 3 people for construction crimes. Without authorization from the Vesuvius National Park Authority, they had built a ramp on the edge of an escarpment.

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