The Cam: constant control, but inadequate goals – L’Aquila

AVEZZANO. The violent storm that occurred in Avezzano last Wednesday, with an elderly woman risking drowning in an underpass, brought attention to the state of the rainwater collection and disposal system. It is not the first time that, following highly intense events, the capacity of rain drainage systems has proven insufficient. And this even in the face of constant maintenance, in some places even weekly. «We are always operational. We work in the field every day and control is assiduous. The Marsican territory is vulnerable, especially during these storms. When so much water falls, the networks are unable to drain it in time, because they cannot be sized for these exceptional rainfalls”, he explained. Tonino Di Cesare, Technical coordinator of Cam (Marsican aqueduct consortium). Cam is responsible for managing the integrated water service. Within the urban area, sewer flood peaks are reached and exceeded, producing flooding that ends up damaging homes and commercial activities. This is due to an overload of the networks, already burdened by the collection of civil and industrial waste water. The system dates back to the 1980s. On the one hand in the city, over the years, impervious (cemented) soils have increased, on the other the population has grown and with it the waste water, the so-called sewage. A system that 40 years ago did not create problems but which today is no longer adequate. «Disasters like this will happen again in the future, the important thing is that the network guarantees the regular functioning of the system. Situations like this can send Italy into a tailspin, not just Avezzano and Marsica. Tomorrow we will have a meeting with the Municipality managers to evaluate the consequences of the phenomenon and we will look for solutions together. In the intervention plan we have foreseen the doubling of the networks in some vulnerable points, a work that will require several million euros. We will certainly start a unique planning with the Municipalities and the Ersi”, concluded Di Cesare. (ap)
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