Garda Water Management: Who Is Responsible for Dredging and Navigation

If it weren’t for the importance of the issue, one might instinctively dismiss it as a strange anomaly of state administration.

In reality, the problem at hand is far from secondary for tourism centers and concerns dredging outside the ports. Specifically, it involves the cleaning of the seabed in the approach channels used by public vessels to dock at the piers.

The question of who is responsible was raised by the commission for the regulation of Lake Garda levels, which met last Monday in Parma.

None of the representatives from the Ministero dei Lavori pubblici (Ministry of Public Works), the Autorità di bacino del fiume Adige (Adige River Basin Authority), the Regioni Lombardia e Veneto (Lombardy and Veneto Regions), the Autonomous Province of Trento, the Provinces of Verona, Brescia, and Mantua, nor representatives from lakeside municipalities of Verona and Brescia, were able to provide a comprehensive answer to the question.

Responsibilities and Competences

According to Onorevole Umberto Chincarini, who was present as a representative of the mayors of the Garda Riviera, the responsibility should fall to the Società di Navigazione (Navigation Company) as the user of public water resources.

This view is supported by a reply received from the Ministero dei Lavori pubblici (Ministry of Public Works) back in December 1997, following a previous parliamentary inquiry from him.

“However, I discovered on Monday that the reality is quite different,” admitted the House of Freedom representative in a phone interview.

“In Parma, Engineer Coppola, the Operations Director of Navigarda, was also present. He declared he was not aware of this obligation by the Navigation Company.

We therefore agreed that the issue is within the competence of the individual regions.”

Responsibility of Regional Authorities

“Dredging of the ports falls under the jurisdiction of the Region and consequently to us at the Genio civile (Civil Engineering Office),” say officials from Verona.

But it is not our responsibility to clean the approach channels for public boats docked at the piers.

Although nothing is officially documented, logically, the entire burden should fall on Navigarda.

Also in Parma, during the session, it was noted that the minimum navigable water level on Garda, for Navigarda’s ferries, is 50 centimeters above the Peschiera hydrometric zero point.

Status of the ongoing investigations

Meanwhile, the Commission continues its work to acquire precise data concerning the water use upstream of Garda, which is destined for agricultural lands in Mantua.

This data is fundamental to determine how many cubic meters of water must be guaranteed to the concessionaires of Mantua Province for effective irrigation needs.

“To define the minimum and maximum levels of Garda,” explains Chincarini, “it is necessary to consider the concessions along the stretch between the Salionze dam and Lake Superiore di Mantova.

Currently, however, we do not know the actual needs of the water users in Virgilian territory.

Investigations into the concessions are still ongoing, and in the absence of definitive information from the operational unit of the Magistrato alle acque di Mantova (Water Magistrate of Mantua), data related to water withdrawals has been requested from the Consorzio del Mincio.

Complex Management and Future Outlook

This delay highlights the chaos prevailing in the management of the entire Garda system, which is interconnected with the Adige River, the Po River, the three lakes of Mantua, Sarca, hydroelectric plants, and the Fissero-Tartaro waterway.

So far, the system remains under the control and opinions of as many as ten different entities, although recent implementing provisions of the Bassanini law have transferred competencies in water estate and flood defense to the Regioni Lombardia e Veneto (Lombardy and Veneto Regions).

The next Commission meeting will be held in Peschiera on November 12.

“This will also be an opportunity,” concludes Chincarini, “to inspect the Salionze dam as well.”