MESSINA – In the Forte Ogliastri area, citizens have formed a committee to urge the institutions on the water problem. In Contesse there has been a trickle of water for 18 families for three weeks. In via Giolitti the water does not reach the upper floors. In San Licandro however, there is a broken fountain “with enormous waste of water in the play area adjacent to the San Francesco di Paola school”, is reported in one of the many WhatsApp reports on 366.8726275. Let’s not talk about the reports to the Lombardy Quarter. Water, which is lost in some areas and missing in others, is a fixed theme in the concerns of the people of Messina. And the arrival of summer, between the drought emergency in Sicily and the ordinances against waste, exacerbates the sense of precariousness.
The importance of structural interventions and the need to strengthen daily care
A central issue remains the relationship between citizens and the investee. It often happens that users write to us, complaining about the need to contact Amam immediately. Both President Bonasera and Mayor Basile know well, after the many reports received, the need to strengthen this need. Precisely because the long-term planning effort must be recognized, attention to everyday life must be improved. Users must perceive that the Municipality and Amam are not far from their needs and that, in concrete terms, things can change in the short term.
Certainly, the structural interventions are fundamental, with the replacement of the pipes in the Lombard and American neighborhoods. Nor can we forget the importance of those planned to complete the “vulnerability mitigation” project of the Fiumefreddo aqueduct. All this in order to make conduct safer. However, keeping daily life and planning together over a long period of time is the real challenge for every administrator.
In the meantime, the civic movement “RispettoMessina” is calling for clarity: “It would be appropriate to know the current and real flow rate of water supplied for the needs of citizens. What is the real situation regarding the bypass to be built to supply, as per the agreement, water to the Municipality of Taormina. And, in the event that this bypass was already in operation, the actual measurement of water supplied daily. Furthermore, regarding the “return of quantities of water by Sicily waters”we ask to know the exact methods for the mechanisms and times, and which person will be responsible for controlling the opening and closing of the “shutters” for any provision.
And what better occasion than a meeting of the city council which sees, in addition to the participation of the mayor, that of the administrators of Amam and ATI water, to give all the necessary answers to the many questions posed by the city community?”.
Amam’s notice for the two desalination plants
Just yesterday the President of the City Council, Nello Pergolizzi, recalled, in a controversy with Senator Musolino, that Amam, “as of this month, no longer supplies Taormina with the small amount of water that has always been guaranteed for decades (5 liters per second)”. And, on the company website, there is a public notice for the construction of two desalination plants in Messina.
Clarity of the message and closeness of the institutions to citizens
Between the nightmare drought, structural problems, which require longer times, controversies and concerns of citizens, who live in some areas with daily inconveniences destined to increase in the summer, what is the solution? The answer must start from politics and institutions. Clarity of messagecloseness of institutions to users and citizens, ability to deal with emergencies, as well as long-term interventions: this is the difficult but necessary balance that must be achieved.
