On 27th July in Bolsena, Legambiente Lazio presented the results of the Goletta dei Laghi surveys on sewerage pollution in Lake Bolsena (see also the report from TG2). Commenting on these surveys during public discussion, the Mayor of Gradoli Luigi Buzi proposed a joint action by his Council and citizens to resolve the outstanding critical issues. Other municipalities expressed similar ideas.
The associations Lago di Bolsena, BLEU and La Porticella welcomed this positive intent with a proposal for mutual co-operation. They write in their press release:
“On the 20th of August we wrote to the mayors to propose working together. The Associations have great freedom of action as well as access to top level public bodies, scientific communities, prefectures etc. This is demonstrated by the effectiveness of our work at the European Commission and a recent international scientific publication on Lake Bolsena made by the Institute for the Study of Ecosystems in Pallanza. It is also demonstrated by the involvement of schools in the “Knowing Lake Bolsena” program. We have recently been invited to attend a European conference in Antwerp with a total of 2000 delegates which will take place in September. At the opening session Piero Bruni will be one of 5 guest speakers, among which will be the European Commissioner for the Environment, Daniel Calleja. His speech will focus the attention of the European community on Lake Bolsena and on the importance of the participation of citizens through associations.
The principal problems of the lake are the quality of the bathing water and the eutrophication in progress. To overcome these it is necessary to complete the missing sections of the sewerage collector, to have correct management of the existing system, to repair the municipal sewer network and to promote sustainable agriculture. It is evident that the municipalities are not able to find the necessary funding to do all of this work and for this reason the deterioration will continue quickly and irresistibly, to the detriment of the entire community. One possible solution is that the European Commission obliges Italy to apply the laws that protect Lake Bolsena, thereby raising the necessary funding that would not otherwise arrive, given the meagre political interest in our electoral basin. Our duty therefore is to solicit the European community and to involve citizens in action.”
The Associations ask the councils for access to the blueprints of the sewer network and propose to identify, together with their technicians, the critical points that release slurry into the lake, possibly involving Legambiente to identify and eliminate the causes that have led to the controversy derived from the findings of Goletta.
They conclude “finally, it should be taken into account that the European Commission pays great attention to the environmental damage that can be caused by geothermal energy in the hydrogeological basin of Lake Bolsena and it seems disposed to ban it.
We are not enemies of the lake: we are an active resource and we are available for the lakeside community.”
