Update 25.01.2019

Although the sewage restoration works are almost complete, in the last few weeks there have been various malfunctions and sewage spills in the lake.

• End of December 2018: failure of the transformer at lifting station 13 (on the Montefiascone lakefront, near the Muretto) with sewage spillage.
• From the beginning of January until at least January 18: repeated spills from the overflow of SS19 at Capodimonte. Cause: a fault with the electrical panel.
• January 20: spillage from SS9 (near Grancaro). Discharge deliberately caused by COBALB management to avoid a spill from SS15 (near the Pirata restaurant).
• January 23: spillage from SS13 (see photo opposite). Cause: an interruption to ENEL’s electricity supply, without COBALB’s management being previously warned.

The status of restoration work, as reported by us in last month’s news, proved to be too optimistic. What we have now learned is that SS15 is still missing a pump as well as the connection of the main electrical control panel, and that the repair of some emergency generators is still pending. We remind you that the remote control and alarm system is also missing, something which is essential to shorten intervention times by the COBALB team in case of breakdowns.

The evident fragility of the circumlacual system is striking. The fact that some stations, even at completion of works, remain without reserve pumps is worrying. The silence of the Regional offices in response to citizens’ demands for information about the state of work is outrageous. The future management of the sewage system around the lake is completely unclear.

The start of work on the treatment plant on the river Marta remains uncertain: this depends on the approval of the Region to expand the project with an additional cost of about one million euros. In the meantime, all the sewage of the lake basin continues to pour into the Marta without any purification.

We trust, in the meantime, on the help of the tramontana to clean the lake!