Aica relies on tankers. There are water resources that can help stem the water crisis. But they can only be reached by tanker. A service that inevitably evokes an illegitimate market. But it won’t be like this in the Agrigento area. The idea that developed in Aica, and which was also approved in the prefecture which naturally deals with avoiding risks to public order, is to introduce the novelty of water purchased and delivered to homes by tankers. Certainly not the one that passes through the distribution network that covers the territory. But the water comes from sources that are not connected or connectable to the aqueduct. To illustrate the initiative, already anticipated ad AgrigentoNews for the historic center of Agrigento, Filippo Romano was the prefect of Agrigento. “The example is that of the petrol station, going to buy water almost like going to a petrol station. It is possible, we have already started from Sciacca after the lockout of the tankers – explained the highest government authority -. This system will allow , on the one hand, to regularize the tankers and on the other to get the water that is not channeled into the main distribution networks to private homes or commercial activities and it will arrive there, purchased and transported, with tankers”. But there’s more. Because, as explained by the prefect, “the truck driver must be able to demonstrate that his water is that of Aica, because there is no other legitimate resource that does not pass through Aica”.
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Refueling with tankers
“Aica has adopted a regulation and an open call to which truck drivers can join simply by registering. And Aica will send the registered truck drivers to the homes or businesses of the applicants – explained Romano -. The citizen will pay a certain amount to Aica and a certain amount to the tanker. This new system, tested in Sciacca, has already brought a positive effect: those who are able to connect to the networks are already doing so the water network costs me less than paying for a truck trip.” This decision was reached because the new supplies that will be found, or that have already been found, cannot always be close to the existing aqueducts. So how do you get water? With the tankers and with the opportunity we are proceeding, we are proceeding, with the regularization of the tanker phenomenon. The truck driver must be able to demonstrate that his water is that of Aica because there is no other legitimate water other than that which passes through Aica.
The point on the emergency
“We are in a serious supply crisis, due to a prolonged drought. The lake basins, the dams, from which the Region draws most of its water resources are about to exhaust their capacity because when they reach below a certain level of depth, we must stop the withdrawal. Fortunately, the deep waters are still available, there are still considerable resources which however must be reached and used and most of these resources cannot be accessed from the aqueducts – prefect Filippo Romano stated – aqueducts that draw from already known but unexploited resources is aggravated by the fact that in the province there are many utilities, houses or businesses, not served by the aqueduct either because they do not reach them or because, although the networks are there, the owners do not have intended never to ask for the connection. This applies to those houses, for example, inhabited only for a couple of months a year. The water service has its own peculiarity: it must be provided through distribution networks”. The prefect compared, by giving an example, the water service to that of gas which can be supplied both by the methane network and by the tank system. And those who have an isolated house and use it for a limited period of the year choose the second alternative even though it is more expensive per cubic meter. But it is economical to install because you don’t have to connect to the main pipes. This is possible for two reasons: first because the gas has a load, but not an exhaust. The gas is consumed by burning and dissolves in the atmosphere. The water, however, if used, is produced, in the form of white or black water, by the user. Italian law insists, for this reason, that supplies be through networks: whoever pays for the water, with that cost, must also pay for its disposal: the purification fee.
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