MONTENERO DI BISACCIA. Purifier and bad odors throughout the Marina, at the Marina Sveva tourist port the press conference of the regional councilor for the Environment, Andrea Di Lucente, together with the mayor of Montenero di Bisaccia, Simona Contucci.
Councilor Di Lucente explained the measures adopted this year to safeguard the tourist season: «For the first time we have put a stop to the transfer of waste to the treatment plant. For the whole summer and until September 30th the purifier will only be able to manage channeled waste, i.e. that which comes directly from the industrial center of Vasto-San Salvo. Further waste will be blocked.
Together with this strong measure, adopted to allow Montenero’s tourist facilities to operate and citizens to breathe less smelly air, we have started a series of checks to understand how to combat the stench. We are in constant dialogue with the Abruzzo region to ask for investments in the infrastructure and make it more modern: only in this way will it be able to offer a service without damaging the community of Montenero. Indeed, I immediately took the situation to heart: it is absolutely contrary to our idea of development to allow parts of Molise to be sacrificed in this way, preventing them from determining their own destiny.
It should be remembered, in fact, that the purifier is an Abruzzo structure on the Molise territory, essentially serving Abruzzo companies and managed by Arap, a public company of the Abruzzo Region. Molise – and Montenero in particular – does not want to pay the price, leaving all the advantages to others.
This piece of coast has had problems related to bad odors for years: it seems trivial, but the damage is serious. The entrepreneurial activities that don’t take off are paying for it, the citizens, for whom the air is unbreathable, are paying for it. We want to give a signal of greater attention to this area, trying to safeguard the tourist season.
I would like to thank the Environment Service of the Molise Region and the ARPA because, thanks to their work of control, verification and evaluation of the interests at stake, a technical table was started in which to seek the most appropriate solutions. There is maximum collaboration on Molise’s part and we have tried in every way, both formally and informally, to find an alternative solution. It was not possible. Until the necessary investments are made to reduce odors and guarantee the right quality of life for the Montenero community, we will move forward with adequate measures to protect citizens. The objective of the Molise Region, in fact, is to start a shared path with Arap and the Abruzzo Region to modernize the structures, make them more functional both for the Nucleus and for the community of Montenero, without necessarily having to make the air unbreathable” .
Simona Contucci also shares the same opinion: «As you know, the problem of odorous emissions from the purifier has been going on for a long time. For about nine years, as Councilor for the Environment first and as Mayor today, I have been fighting and asking the managers of the purification plant for optimal and correct functioning of that structure, but certainly not for its closure.
Unfortunately, relations with Arap have not been the best, but we hope that they can be more relaxed in the coming months, also because we have asked for mutual collaboration, despite the fact that an almost denialist attitude towards the problem remains.
However, the problem exists, it has been ascertained and it is a problem that unfortunately jeopardizes the development of an area with a tourist vocation.
I must recognize how the new Regional Council of Molise and Councilor Di Lucente himself are providing concrete support, which we consider fundamental; in fact, it is thanks to this support that we arrived at the Determination of the Molise Region, signed by Dr. Lavalle, which ascertained and therefore imposed the total block of waste delivered to the purifier through road transport, from 15 June to 30 September.
This means that, as the Councilor of Lucente said, only channeled waste from the urban wastewater of the Marina di Montenero, San Salvo and Vasto will enter, as well as that of the industrial area.
I also remember that in June 2023 the guidelines for the management of odor emissions were adopted.
These two measures, therefore, also helped us from an administrative point of view to set some boundaries.
We know that Arap intends to carry out a study of odorous emissions, therefore, it will do so on each tank inside the purifier; we were also informed that temporary covers for the tanks were purchased, to then proceed with a subsequent and definitive intervention.
We imagine that blocking the access of leachate coming from road transport may not be enough; this means that if we don’t have the collaboration of ARAP, we will naturally go very far.
It is understood, as already mentioned, that no one is asking to close the purifier: we are asking for the purifier to work, because we know well the importance of purification in a community and in a system like this. What is certain is that this system cannot stink.
I therefore hope that Arap’s attitude changes and becomes more collaborative, given that the problem also affects the neighboring Abruzzo territories and I repeat again: I hope there is synergistic work together with Arap, different from that declared at the Technical Roundtable , where the director of ARAP said that he cannot afford to lose one and a half million euros “because there is a pain in the ass Mayor”. And so the mayor who defends the community, or wants to grow the territory and tourist development, would be a pain in the ass? So we’re not there.
Inter-institutional relations must be maintained, guaranteed and we must work in synergy.
I remind myself and those who have forgotten that there is a safeguard clause in the provision which was also created to overcome any critical issues with respect to the summer season.
Some entrances to the purification plant have already been blocked by Arap Servizi, but we remind you that there are also alternative solutions, at other sites, for those who have had their leachate entrances blocked in the summer; we therefore do not want them to place a responsibility on us which must instead be taken only as a measure of common sense, attention and professionalism”.
