– «There is no more time to waste, the situation is dramatic and the emergency can only be responded to with emergency tools, immediately bypassing any ordinary procedure».
With these words, the Due Mari Taranto-Brindisi area of CIA Agricoltori Italiani di Puglia has officially asked the Puglia Region to urge the central government to decree a state of natural disaster regarding the very serious water crisis that has been affecting every day for several weeks the province of Taranto.
«Unfortunately – explained the CIA – every initiative and buffer solution adopted so far has not yielded the desired results and, in various portions of the territory, the quantity of water supplied is unable to satisfy the needs of farmers who now risk losing, in addition to production, the same tree systems that do not receive sufficient water and require immediate interventions of an extraordinary nature”.
«In the recent past we have recognized on several occasions the good will put in place by the regional agriculture department, by Acque del Sud, by the Consorzio Unico di Bonifica, by Arif Puglia and by the maintenance teams of the bodies mentioned, unfortunately every effort made in the field so far it has not served to save the irrigation season, because the disasters of twenty years of total abandonment of irrigation structures cannot be repaired in such a short time”.
«The hypothesis of activating a bypass from Basilicata will not be able to solve the problems that arose with the collapse of the tunnel that brings the water from the San Giuliano dam to Puglia via a 35 km long canal, as the water that will supplied always comes from the Monte Cotugno dam”.
«For these reasons, we are forced to ask the relevant bodies to activate the state of emergency and natural disaster ad horas and to urge all the mayors of the area, the president of the Province of Taranto, the regional councilors, the Taranto parliamentarians, the trade unions of agricultural workers and trade associations, so that they can plead our cause which is the cause of the entire agricultural world”.
«The current picture announces a real disaster: water is scarce and the dams are empty, the entire agricultural economy of the area, the many jobs and the near future of the primary sector are at risk».
«We must also start rationing water for drinking purposes and intervene immediately to save our valuable crops: we must do so, drawing on extraordinary economic resources and immediately activating all possible sources of alternative water supply».
