Trapani navigates the water emergency by sight: the distribution shift in the historic center is skipped and the calendar undergoes changes. Tourists and small accommodation facilities are exhausted, while anger mounts among citizens, ready to take legal action against the Municipality and to demonstrate during this evening’s council session.
The scope of complaints increases
Water shortages have reached critical levels, turning daily life into a nightmare. Siciliacque has drastically reduced supplies to 100 liters per second, forcing the city to rely on its own meager resources.
Mayor Tranchida explains that Trapani must now be self-sufficient, despite the decline in springs and the serious need to ensure supplies to other municipalities, entities and military structures. To make matters worse, the doubling of the summer population due to tourism and the infrastructural problems of the historic center, where many homes transformed into B&Bs lack adequate cisterns.
Not only. The tankers are not equipped with adequate pipes to reach high floors where they can fill the tanks. Entire apartment buildings remain dry, and many apartment managers are complaining. “I paid over 1000 euros for tankers in three months, so as not to deny a shower to those I host in my accommodation facilities. It happened that I had to return the money for the poor service“, according to Emanuele Salvatore Barbara, who manages some apartments in the historic center.
The enraged citizens are thinking of filing a complaint
The Municipality is trying to deal with the emergency by increasing the withdrawal from municipal wells and modifying the distribution shifts. The new calendar includes a day of accumulation followed by a day of distribution in the historic center. However, uncertainty about supply in the Trapani Nuova areas fuels citizens’ exasperation.
The chronic lack of water has pushed residents of the historic center, together with tourists who own houses in the area, to take collective legal action against the Municipality to obtain compensation for the damages suffered. Meanwhile, there are those who are preparing a complaint against Mayor Tranchida for interruption of public service.
The protest quickly spread on social media, and councilor Tore Fileccia of Mpa invited citizens to attend the City Council meeting this evening at 7 p.m. in large numbers, to make their voices heard and ask for immediate solutions to this dramatic situation.
