We are all more or less aware that there is still much to be done regarding water recycling and management . Not only in the private sector, where everyone can contribute, but also, and especially, in the public sector, where the necessary and urgent interventions are still unfortunately numerous. The wastewater treatment services in various municipalities in some regions are completely absent, resulting in critical environmental impact and the loss of potential resources to be recycled. Intelligent management of wastewater should not only be seen as a different and less impactful way of disposing of waste, but as a source of available resources to be exploited. In Italy, there are 342 municipalities that still do not manage water resources effectively, corresponding to about 1.4 million inhabitants. In these areas, the urban wastewater treatment service is completely absent. Of these 342 municipalities, 75 are located in Sicily, a region that presents the most critical situation. Following are Calabria with 57 and Campania with 55. A particularly serious example is the wastewater from the Fondo Verde treatment plant in Palermo, which should have been used for the replenishment of aquifers but has instead been flowing into the sewer system for years, failing to counteract the saline intrusion phenomena in the Colli plain, which risks desertifying the land up to Mondello. Even more serious is the thought of the value and assistance that the potential recovery and reuse of wastewater would provide during drought periods, which are becoming increasingly severe and frequent. For failures in implementing the Directive, Italy has already faced two condemnations from the European Court of Justice, and a new infringement procedure has been initiated. Gianfranco Zanna, regional president of Legambiente Sicilia, calls for timely interventions: «The vastness of the failure that in 27 years has seen no adjustment of Sicily to national and European standards requires President Musumeci to establish a technical table with environmental associations that have long denounced the inconsistency of the Sicilian Region, excluding all those who have dealt with the sector over the years. There is no more time to give the floor to those who have failed in the field of waste and water». The reference data has been published on the Water Portal (www.acqua.gov.it). If you want to consult the complete data on urban wastewater treatment plants in operation in Italy, it is all available HERE.
