Lake Garda Algae Crisis: New Funding and Initiatives to Combat Bloom

Topic of great current relevance and concern is the issue of algae in Lake Garda. This has been discussed, and will continue to be debated in the future, in an effort to address and solve a problem that in recent years has caused alarm among tourism operators and environmental protection authorities. In recent days, a summit in Peschiera between the regional environment ministers Nicoli Cristiani and Giorgetti established the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two entities, with a commitment to allocate funds for the purchase of a weed-cutting and algae-removing boat, to be deployed mainly in the southern Lake Garda area, especially between Sirmione and Peschiera.

A shared intention expressed unanimously by both ministers, but some questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding the responsibility for operating the service. To dispel this doubt, the president of Azienda Consorzio Garda Uno, Guido Maruelli, clarified that already, with their consortium, they are managing three weed-cutting boats—two on Lake Garda and one on Lake d’Idro. Managing a fourth boat will definitely not be a major problem. The key point is to resolve everything as quickly as possible, so that this new unit can be operational in the shortest time. Indeed, from next March, the algae problem could become relevant again.

Shared opinions and solutions

Fabrizio Zanetti, president of Azienda Gardesana, which operates on the Veronese shore, also agreed with President Maruelli’s views. It’s not so much who will operate the boat that matters, but rather the availability of this equipment to the residents of Garda. The disposal of the algae themselves, once dried, seems less problematic. According to Nicoli Cristiani, there is already a landfill in Brescian land equipped for destroying these aquatic plants. Also on the Brescian side, a project is underway to recover these plants and convert them into substances to be used as fertilizer for the land.