The photos demonstrate how even the most famous lake on the island is disappearing. What was the “place of eternal spring” is reduced to a puddle
We are not exaggerating if we define it as the most illustrious and important lake in Sicily and today it even risks disappearing. The ones you see are photos that hurt the heart, because they demonstrate that Lake Pergusa, a few km from Enna, is almost completely dried up: it is practically reduced to a puddle.
It is one of the most painful consequences of the drought that is devastating the island. One of the most important lakes, both from a cultural and environmental point of view, has fallen victim to it. Lake Pergusa, which is located a few kilometers from Enna, was written about by Ovid in his “Metamorphoses” (in the 1st century AD) who described it as a place of “eternal spring”, and Claudian in “The Rape of Proserpina”, in the 4th century AD, defining it as a lake of “deep clear waters, surrounded on the shores by shady woods”. According to Greek mythology, on the shores of this lake were born the four Seasons (we told you about it in one of our articles).
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In these hours, after months of agony and after an incredible week of unbreathable miasmas, the Lake Pergusa has almost completely disappearedin its place remains a blackish patch of damp mud that is drying in the very hot sun of this summer that has just begun.
«His disappearance, certainly attributable to the very serious climate crisis that is gripping Sicily, was however speeded up by the total inattention and inertia of the bodies which, instead, should have intervened in various capacities», accuses Legambiente Sicilia.
The lake is property of the Sicilian Region, and the Lake Pergusa Nature Reserve, which is managed by what was once the Regional Province of Enna, is a piece of the regional administration entrusted to the aforementioned local body (Free Consortium).
Lake Pergusa is not just a lake, or what remains of it, in a Sicily that dries up in the sun. Lake Pergusa is also one of the most important rest stops for hundreds of species of birds during their journey from Africa to Europe, it is a treasure chest of precious flora and fauna, it is part of the great myth of Sicily, it is an indispensable piece of the life of the people of Enna and the citizens of central Sicily who have long chosen it as the place of their recreational activities.
«We predicted it, by July Lake Pergusa would disappear and the disappearance came earlier, with the summer solstice – states Giuseppe Maria Amato, water resources management representative of Legambiente Sicilia -. For years we have asked for the restoration of the environmental monitoring system, which is essential for updating knowledge on the state of the lake, and the cleaning of the various channels that carry water from the lake’s natural basin to it.
The cleaning interventions were carried out only partially and in a poorly coordinated manner between the bodies, so much so that accumulations of solid material can still be observed at the bottom of the canals which interrupt the descent of the liquids towards the lake.
If the table had remained active – continues Amato -, today we would at least have data on the condition of the aquifer, we would have finally established the true size of the underground basin, we would have understood if and how, in the not too distant future, extra-basin waters would have could have been introduced. Instead, the Region has not understood the importance of this precious heritage of biodiversity and culture and is condemning Lake Pergusa and its vast area to a slow agony.”
«We do not intend to throw in the towel – relaunches the regional president of Legambiente Sicilia, Tommaso Castronovo – we strongly ask that the table be reconvened with the utmost urgency and with the aim of implementing a careful planning that sees the precious biotope among the first places of Europe to be subjected to environmental reconstitution work, as required by the just approved law Restoration Law».
