Brescia Mayors Approve Garda Uno Budget and Address Lake Pollution Concerns
Yes to the 2000 estimate (costs, 25 billion lire, match revenues) and to a series of investments (another 20 billion). But also yes to the necessity of ending the stand-off with Umberto Chincarini, the Lega mayor of Peschiera, a town that hosts (reluctantly) the treatment plant. This was decided the other evening by the mayors of the Brescia side of Garda Lake, gathered in an assembly in Portese di San Felice to approve the company budgets and programs of the special entity Garda Uno.
For some time, Chincarini had been raising his voice, tired of the smell (which occasionally polluted the air) and of those liquors that come from all the towns: Sinnione, Desenzano, Valtenesi, Salò, Toscolano Maderno, Gargnano, Lazise, Bardolino. He demanded compensation for damages, an “inconvenience allowance,” also under a law approved by the Veneto Region. Negotiations, delays, proposals, refusals. Chincarini shouting, pushing, grumbling. The others hesitating, procrastinating, postponing.
Interventions and agreements with Chincarini
Until, a few days before Christmas, the mayor of Peschiera broke the hesitation and signed an ordinance, forbidding trucks over 35 quintals (full load) from accessing the treatment plant, which meant: no to tankers carrying waste from spill pits to the black well, but also no to outgoing trucks with sludge produced by the purification process (containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic components: impossible to keep them too long in the tanks). The measure was revoked in exchange for… 400 million lire.
The Garda-based services company, which covers the Veronese Riviera, and Garda Uno, chaired by Guido Maruelli, from San Felice del Benaco, agreed to pay this amount, half each, for the 1998-1999 biennium. To be precise, Chincarini — who, as a member of Parliament, had raised the issue of lake pollution also in Parliament — had been claiming the money since 1992. Specifically: 1.1 billion lire.
“The plant has always operated like a… dump,” he argued. But, claiming that he had raised the issue only towards the end of 1997, and since the accounts until that date were already closed, the mayors of the many towns managed to settle for a lower price. And for the overdue payments? They told him: “If you want, go to civil court. It will be up to the judge to decide whether we have to pay or not.”
Meanwhile, the Province of Verona authorized the continuation of activity for 18 months, until June 30, 2001. To obtain final approval, the two special companies will need to carry out a series of improvements, starting with covering the dissabeator, responsible for summer odors. The rehabilitation project involves expenditure of several billion, mostly financed by the Ministero dell’Ambiente (Ministry of the Environment).
Details include: landscaping and building upgrades to reduce impact; redefining access points and internal spaces; implementing a flow control system (bypass), to prevent damage to the plant and phenomena of backflow, with possible flooding. To allow easier monitoring of parameters, possibly the four discharges entering the Seriola Prevaldesca channel, which flows into the Mincio downstream of the Salionze dam, will be unified.
Assembly and strategic decisions
The assembly, composed of the Provincial assessor (Mauro Parolini), the mayors (or their delegates), and the prefectural commissioner Rinaldo Argentieri (representing Lonato), paid particular attention to the 2000 budget, listening to reports from the board of directors and auditors (Massimo Pollini, Eugenio Vitello, and Aurelio Bizioli). It then decided to initiate procedures to transform Garda Uno into a joint-stock company, as provided by the “collegato” to the Finance Law, under discussion in the Senate.
Finally, a new assembly president was appointed. He will be Cino Anelli, from Desenzano, replacing Manlio Mantovani, who had stepped down (in Lonato) with his council. Ermanno Pollini, from Moniga, remains vice president.
