SAN SEVERINO MARKET – Interventions not carried out on the Mercato San Severino treatment plant, the Campania Region sanctions the company that held the management before the transition to Gori. With a managerial decree of last May 19, the injunction against Cogei was formalized, concerning a conduct deemed non-compliant and the failure to prepare the work necessary for the maintenance of the plant located in the Costa hamlet, often at the center of controversy in recent years linked to the emission of bad smells and spills of water with an abnormal color in the Solofrana river, especially during days of heavy rainfall. Everything starts with checks carried out by the Carabinieri of the Ecological Assessment Unit, on 15 July 2020, which was followed by the sending of a report of administrative offense.
In fact, during the inspection in question, violations of the provisions contained in the single environmental authorization held by the company were found. In particular, «the two scrubber plants serving, respectively, the“ pre-treatment, screening and sandblasting, de-oiling, pre-aeration ”area and the“ pre-thickening, post-thickening and dewatering sludge ”activities were not active». Furthermore, following checks on the time schedule of the improvement interventions to be made to the Costa plant, it was found that no works such as “closure of the coagulation tanks – flocculation, primary sedimentation, biological denitrification, with the installation of a treatment plant of the area of the confined zone; complete closure of the entire sludge dewatering compartment, since only two out of three belt presses are confined and assisted by the scrubber system; construction of a weather station “.
On 10 August 2018 the purifier had been subjected to seizure as it did not comply with certain requirements, related to maintenance, and with a special order the judge for preliminary investigations of Nocera Inferiore had entrusted the company with the care of ordinary administration. As for the critical issues highlighted by the carabinieri, it was noted that the activation of the two scrubber systems was within the competence of the manager, while the other interventions fall within those that the Region itself, owner of the system, should have planned and financed. Once the violation was clarified, a financial penalty of one thousand euros was imposed on the company. In the meantime, the functional path to solve the atavistic problems of the purifier continues. Last month, in fact, the Region approved the implementation of the single project for the installation of the plant, with an estimated expenditure of almost 5 million euros for reducing emissions and improving the sludge line. An act preceded by the identification of Gori as the implementing body.
Francesco Ienco