Lake Garda Sinks Controversy: Environmental and Management Concerns

It couldn’t escape the attention of Dr. Paolo Barbagli, fiery president of the environmentalist group Amici della Terra (who are evidently friends… of water too), the not-so-glorious end of the pontoon Tenace, sunk a couple of weeks ago in the Gulf of Riva.

But how — asks Barbagli, not without valid points — does the «public» dump whatever they like into the lake and then justly punish those who use it to clear out their cellar?

Here are all of Barbagli’s considerations.

Details of the sinking and environmental issues

On March 29, 2001, the Tenace pontoon, built for the diving school of the Istituto Tecnico Rossi in Porto S. Nicolò, and later used by the Komitato Manifestazioni Rivan as a launch base for the fireworks of Notte di Fiaba, was sunk with a large deployment of resources (the ferry Tonale, a fire brigade patrol boat, some divers) in the stretch of lake between Punta Lido and the Fraglia pier.

The sinking was ordered by the Comune and the Provincia after it had fallen and rested on the lakebed a few meters from the shore, having become tilted and unmaintained while moored in front of the Lido dock, thus blocking the Navigarda pier.

This decision also established that there are two weights and two measures: what for a private individual, caught throwing an old refrigerator or a bag of waste into the lake, is a punishable crime, becomes permissible when the public authority intervenes, even in the presence of waste (which had now become the pontoon) of several tons.

Questions about responsibilities and safety

Some questions arise:

1) If the ownership of the pontoon, as it seems, was held by the Komitato, wasn’t it their responsibility to recover and dispose of it, perhaps after proper dismantling, at designated collection centers or landfills?

2) Who bore the (presumably substantial) costs for the sinking (Navigarda, Comune, Provincia, Komitato)?

3) Are we truly certain that the pontoon, used for years as a fireworks launch base and likely «contaminated» with materials used for the explosions, is absolutely inert and harmless to the lake’s environmental balance and swimmer safety?

4) From an aesthetic and tourist perspective, is it really insignificant to see a pontoon on a seabed about 20 meters deep (this is the current depth of the pontoon), just a few meters from the shore of a tourist town like Riva?

5) Based on which regulations, and authorized by which Municipality and Province authorities, was such a sinking permitted?

The situation on Lake Garda and waste management issues

Finally, one doubt: has Lake Garda, at least in the stretch in front of Riva, become an enormous dump — with pontons and rocks mixed with debris, dumped from April 5 with noise to create an unnecessary «revetment to protect the lakeside of Lungolago d’Annunzio» (as the project title, issued with lightning speed, reads in bureaucratic jargon)?