Update 5.03.2019

The month of February started badly for the lake’s sewage system. As we know, after heavy rains the system can’t manage to carry all the incoming water as in many municipalities ‘black’ water and rainwater are not separated. This is what happened at the beginning of February: the pumping stations were severely tested by heavy and prolonged precipitation with spills from stations SS9, SS19 and substation 18.

Another problem, which had caused spills near the port of Capodimonte, was solved a few days ago where one of the new pumps at station SS19 had to be replaced due to a factory defect.

February ends, however, with news that gives hope for the completion of the work in reasonable time. According to information we have received, on 1st March in Bolsena an agreement was signed between the Region, COBALB and the contracting firm Luisiana. This agreement grants Luisiana authorization for the emptying of the plant (untreated sewage in the region of the lake in the Marta river) for a limited period, probably six months. The agreement has still to be signed by the Province which, in the course of the next week, will outline the necessary conditions and rules.

The reason for this move, which means that the contractor will take responsibility for pollutant discharges and the burden of remedying them as soon as possible, is not completely clear to us. It is evident that this would only be possible with a new allocation of funds – we are talking about one million euros – and a variant of the project, both of which are necessary to complete the work.

We do not know if the funds have yet been confirmed by a decision of the Regional Council: as usual, neither the Regional Office nor our regional councillor (to whom we specifically appealed) have responded to our requests for dialogue and information. What we do know is that the European Commission, alerted by citizens, is displeased with the serious delays in repairing the sewer system of Lake Bolsena.

When work resumes, work on the pumping stations will be completed first; there are still two new pumps to be installed as well as the connection of some electrical panels. Then the refurbishment of the Marta purifier will begin.

It is hoped that the lifting system test will take place before the summer; work on the water treatment plant could continue throughout 2019.