It is an all-Italian score. «Big emotions, big removals». The tragedy ofEmilia Romagna underwater instead, he says Erasmus D’Angelisformer Undersecretary for Transport and head of the Safe Italy structure created by the Renzi government, needs “an immediate action plan”.
Are tragedies really avoidable?
«Floods and self-healing storms are difficult events to anticipate but Italy is particularly exposed. It has the highest rainfall rate in Europe, 300 billion cubic meters per year which flow into more than 7,000 torrential watercourses».
What does Emilia-Romagna need?
«Defense infrastructures, especially in lower Romagna, to curb water avalanches from the mountains to the plains. Expansion tanks, lamination areas, large lakes where excess water can flow off».
Is there still a plan against hydrogeological instability?
«The funds are still there, about 8 billion. Our plan, safe Italy, allocated them seven years ago now ».
Then?
«The central structure has been decommissioned, part of the funds ended up in the Pnrr. Everything stopped. We had foreseen 12,000 projects from North to South, interventions for 30 billion euros in ten years, non-stop tenders».
Always the fault of the bureaucracy?
Not only that, these are political decisions. We need a permanent structure in Rome, of technicians, which has a longer horizon than a government. Today, however, the responsibilities are scattered between the ministries of Infrastructure and the Environment, and the Civil Protection, which does not do prevention ».
Is central Italy more at risk?
“Yes. Rome is particularly exposed. There are about 360,000 Romans at risk of flooding. With Italia Sicura we put a tender for works to contain the flooding of the rivers which from Tuscany and Umbria, such as the Paglia, discharge into the Tiber. Many have yet to leave. But there is another plague».
Which?
«Abusiveness. In particular in Ostia, which is the only urbanized mouth of a large river, even in high-risk areas”.
Added to this is the water crisis arriving in the summer. Can Italy overcome it?
«Yes, but we need a national investment plan, around 5 billion a year according to the Hearth and Water Agenda Foundation. By activating all the levers, starting from the small-medium sized ones».
You explain.
«Italy invaded only 4 percent of the annual rainfall, a negative record in Europe. The more water you accumulate, the more you have for periods of drought».
Are dams not enough?
«We have 531 large dams, of which a hundred are out of order. We could accumulate 13 billion cubic meters of water every year, and instead we collect just over 8 billion».
How does it come out? Are watermakers a solution?
«Yes, especially for coastal areas that do not have independent water sources, I am thinking of Puglia. Elsewhere, like in Rome, it’s not necessary. The Peschiera water that arrives in the capital is among the best in the world and will not run out. There’s another problem.”
The losses.
“The national water network needs massive investments. Out of 550,000 kilometres, a third have sensational water leaks. We can’t afford it anymore.”
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