Lower Sarca Water Vein Could Unlock Thermal, Industrial Potential

In the future of the Lower Sarca economy and Arco in particular, there are excellent prospects for development linked to the presence underground of significant water veins with characteristics that could enable thermal exploitation: nothing new, as it concerns the water discovered during drilling near the church of S. Giorgio.

The drilling was completed three years ago by an Emilia-based company, commissioned by the provincial geological service as part of a study on the subsurface of the Sarca valley. The probe encountered water of excellent quality and in large quantities at a depth of less than two hundred meters from ground level, but driven by a pressure sufficient to bring it to just a few dozen meters from the surface, a detail that, if ever, makes it interesting.

Analysis and project development

Immediately, the opportunity was considered to subject that potential thermal source to more detailed analyses that would determine, with no approximation, the characteristics and suitability of the water for exploitation: drinking, thermal, or industrial use. However, nothing ever came of it, because the process, despite the attention of Dr. Ernesto Santuliana, provincial geologist, moved from table to table without ever reaching the crucial decision stage.

And it would not even be appropriate here to talk about novelty, except that the province finally seems to have reaffirmed its intention to complete the study, guaranteeing sufficient funding for drilling a new well, smaller than the first. Reaching a depth of about two hundred meters, it will provide all the required information on deep groundwater.

Funding and timelines

In the budget adjustment, 150 million euros have been allocated, which should be sufficient as outlined in the project already prepared by the geological service, waiting only for the go-ahead from the relevant departments to proceed. Dr. Santuliana believes that the intervention could conclude by the end of the year at the latest; the drilling of the new well, which could take place in an area close to the first exploration well, should not require more than two months, including the time for all permits to be issued.