Lake Garda Sandbags Left Unrecovered for Weeks Prompting Call for Removal

They remained on the lakeshore for over a month without anyone taking action to recover and remove them. Easy to foresee their disastrous fate. Forty, perhaps even more, sandbags used by volunteers from the fire brigade, civil protection, and municipal workers to counteract the rising level of Lake Garda during the severe weather emergency are now prominently displayed in the lake waters.

Location and condition of the sandbags

Laid on the bottom just a few meters from the shore, near the war memorial for the fallen of the sea. Impossible not to see them. It’s hard to imagine they simply fell into the water; they were thrown in by the reckless gesture of some bored vandals who, finding nothing better to do, decided to lift them (with considerable effort since these sacks weigh several tens of kilograms) and toss them into the lake.

Characteristics and risks of the sandbags

An act of vandalism: these sand-filled sacks are made of virtually indestructible material (their use requires this) and are therefore not biodegradable at all. Leaving them stranded on the lakeshore for days without further concern was an open invitation for the usual troublemakers.

Necessary interventions

To remedy the situation, someone—presumably the technicians from the municipal construction site—must now dive into the cold waters of Garda and recover the “stolen goods.”