Mincio River Flooding: Local Response and Future Concerns
The high rainfall of the past few weeks has raised the water level of the Mincio, but for now there do not appear to be any particular dangers. Certainly, the landscape has changed between Valeggio and Monzambano along the riverbed, which has immediately risen above the banks, approaching the banks of the promenade (occupied on the right in the direction of Peschiera by the bike path) and thus creating many small parallel lakes. Where the river has overflowed, that is, where it has reclaimed part of its original bed, entire colonies of swans have now shifted there. Fortunately, there are no houses, only fields.
The situation and residents’ reactions
Are the families settled in the immediate vicinity feeling uneasy? “We weren’t afraid,” affirms Giorgio Galetto, owner of a local business right on the banks of the Mincio. “Because as soon as the water level rose, they adjusted the dam gates to increase outflow into the Diversivo, the canal running alongside. The important thing is that the river course is clean, as it is now, except for some fallen trees that should be removed to avoid problems.”
Even in contrada Caucciola, near Monzambano, there is no concern because agricultural activity is currently halted and, above all, the houses are sufficiently far from the riverbank. However, it is also noted that the Mincio has not been so swollen in over twenty years.
Future projects and concerns
Right there, in the now-flooded areas, there were plans to establish a facility equipped for leisure time, probably with swimming pools and a camping area. The project, presented during the latest Prg, was rejected in the Region, partly due to opposition from environmentalists. They highlighted the incongruity of establishing a settlement close to the Mincio and the real possibility of damaging the landscape.
In summary, it does not seem likely to encounter a “Soverato risk” (the Calabrian town shaken because construction was built near watercourses), but amidst the tug-of-war between the Garda municipalities—who want to increase, through the Salionze dam, the outflow of water towards the Mincio to avoid flooding—and the Mantuan municipalities downstream, which deny this possibility, the areas between Borghetto and the dam could be the most affected by a potential rise in the river level.