Castiglione Begins Remediation of Contaminated Sites After Regional Approval

The Conference of Services held in Castiglione delle Stiviere two days ago has initiated the implementation of the characterization plan for contaminated sites Cava del Pirata and Busa di Castiglione. After decades of practices and controversies, this marks the beginning of the first concrete operations aimed at rehabilitating the most polluted sites in the municipality of Castiglione.

The conference of services (which is the body that gathers all the entities responsible for giving opinions on the process) took place at the Castiglione municipal office and was attended by representatives from: Regione Lombardia, Azienda Sanitaria Locale di Mantova, Arpa, Provincia di Mantova.

Representing the Municipality of Castiglione were Mayor Arturo Sigurtà, the ecology councilor Roberto Moratti, and the technician appointed by the same municipality of Castiglione, Gorio.

The Favorable Opinion and Characterization Operations

“The conference of services,” explained yesterday the Roberto Moratti in the quote, “gave a favorable opinion on the proposed methods for the characterization plan. Essentially, this involves operations to assess all quantities of pollutants present in the two sites, so as to precisely quantify the methods, timelines, and costs for the actual remediation.”

Yesterday, the present technicians agreed on some specific operational steps. This operation, which represents one of the fundamental phases of the long-awaited cleanup, will cost approximately 700 million euros, a figure financed by Regione Lombardia, which has allocated funds for this intervention.

Once the characterization plan is completed, Regione Lombardia will proceed with funding the remaining part of the remediation.

Statements by Councilor Moratti and the Expected Outcome

Yesterday, Councilor Moratti expressed his satisfaction with the start of this process: “It’s been something anticipated for many years, and we are proud to have brought it to this point. We are only waiting for a report from the conference in the coming days to proceed with the actual operations. The mayor was also very eager for these cleanups to begin, so this is a significant achievement for the entire administration.”