PESCARA. «Abruzzo is working well. The purification problems have been addressed and partly overcome. The positive trend of Blue Flags won shows great attention.” As Claudio Mazza, president of Fee Italia, Foundation for environmental education, the organization that awards the Blue Flag, the recognition given to seaside tourist resorts that respect criteria relating to sustainable management of the territory, gratified the Abruzzo region for the path taken in obtaining the banners. Yesterday morning, in the council room of the Municipality of Pescara, the ceremony took place to hand over the flags to the Abruzzo municipalities that have obtained the recognition which establishes excellent bathing conditions and more. Fifteen deliveries were registered in Abruzzo this year, plus one landing. The new entry Ortona has joined Francavilla al Mare, Fossacesia, Vasto, San Salvo in the province of Chieti, Martinsicuro, Alba Adriatica, Tortoreto, Giulianova, Roseto degli Abruzzi, Pineto and Silvi in the province of Teramo, Scanno and Villalago in the province of ‘Aquila and then Pescara, which obtained the flag both as a city and as a tourist port. With an extra Blue Flag flying, Abruzzo becomes «one of the regions with the highest density of flags, due to the relationship between the number of flags and the extension of the coast», stated the President of the Region, Marcus Marsilio, who together with Mazza handed over the flags to the representatives of the awarded locations. «These are results that can be achieved with precise interventions», he said. «The cohesion agreement signed with the prime minister Giorgia Meloni has allocated one billion and 250 million to Abruzzo. An important part focuses precisely on the water cycle, therefore purifiers, sanitation, fight against erosion, thus enabling the Municipalities to plan and work. An investment of 70-80 million euros is expected for the defense of the coast alone. This set of interventions, combined with those for sustainable energy, contributes to doing work that qualifies for the flag.”
Blue flag doesn’t just mean clean sea. When presenting their applications, the Municipalities must complete a questionnaire containing 32 parameters that talk about water quality, but also about interventions on sustainable mobility, separate waste collection, environmental education, renewable energy and obviously the services offered on the beaches.
Pescara is the first Italian city to have activated the Eco-school project, with 20 thousand students involved in environmental education courses.
«Many words are often used when talking about the environment and sustainability», analyzed Mazza. «The blue flag, on the other hand, is concreteness. We need to see change. What we ask for is constant improvement. A path taken in small steps to enhance environmental performance.” «The Blue Flag is a result for the whole of Abruzzo», added the president of the regional council, Lorenzo Sighs. «It is an objective achieved made up of great collaborations, good practices and public works. For Pescara, for example, I am thinking of the two large investments which have been started and which are the new purifier of the metropolitan area and the first rain tank to prevent spills with each wave of bad weather, when it was not possible to convey the water towards the purifier for blocking the lifting system. Two works financed by the Abruzzo Region, which are seen less but which allow us to achieve strategic objectives, such as having deserved the Blue Flag”.
The delivery of the flags to the representatives of the Municipalities present was also made by the mayor of Fossacesia, Enrico Di Giuseppantonio, which has obtained the recognition for 23 years and that of Pescara, the host, which won the banner for the fourth consecutive year. «An acknowledgment for the whole city», commented the mayor Carlo Masci, «starting with those who work on our beaches all year round. Today this delivery has something bitter about the Bolkestein events that are looming and I hope that there are some glimmers of opportunity to protect companies that are important for the area.”
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