Short and medium term interventions to mitigate the damage caused by the lack of water but above all the request to the government to declare a state of national emergency for the water crisis in Sicily. These are the two directions along which the regional government led by Renato Schifani is moving, which in the meantime, during the last council meeting, resolved to request a state of national emergency as a result of the long period of drought and the significant reduction in reserves of water throughout Sicily.
The objective of the provision, which will now have to be approved by the Council of Ministers, is to guarantee drinking water to citizens and water supply to the agricultural and livestock sectors, as well as to companies involved in construction sites on the island.
Meanwhile, in a report from the regional civil protection, the short and medium-term interventions to mitigate the crisis are indicated: from the reduction of consumption of drinking water users, to interventions on reservoirs, to information and awareness campaigns for savings, and then interventions to find alternative resources (such as mobile watermakers and ships with desalination modules), purchase of tankers and silos for distribution in public places, use of wells and springs, repair of water networks, modernization of desalination plants in the abandoned sites of Porto Empedocle, Paceco- Trapani and possibly also Gela. The cost of the short-term actions is 130 million euros, while the medium-term ones are 590 million euros.
«The drought in Sicily is becoming dramatic – says President Renato Schifani – The Region has already implemented a series of actions to mitigate the crisis, helping the production sectors and limiting inconvenience to citizens, but urgent state interventions are also needed to operate on water supply networks and systems and to raise citizens’ awareness of a more rational use of the resource. Furthermore, tax and contribution relief, moratoriums and suspension of obligations are necessary for companies in the agricultural and livestock sector which are in very serious difficulty.”
In recent weeks the Region had already declared a state of water crisis for both drinking and agricultural-livestock use, also appointing two commissioners. For the production sectors involved, procedures have been started for measures for approximately 5.5 million euros which provide relief from the fees of the reclamation consortia and administrative simplification measures. A regional observatory on water uses has also been established to constantly monitor the state of the reservoirs and water reserves.
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2024-04-04 13:47:34
