Lake Garda to Get New Weed-Removal Boat by 2000, Boosting Algae Control
By 2000, the third weed-removal boat will be operational on Lake Garda. This confirmation was supported by the decision of the Provincial Administration to allocate a subsidy aimed precisely at purchasing this indispensable means for combating the so-called “famous” algae that, during the summer season of 1998, caused serious difficulties for the tourism activities of lower Garda due to a massive production of aquatic macroalgae that literally invaded most of the beaches of the lower lake. The area most affected was the coastal strip of Desenzano and Sirmione.
Immediately, municipal and provincial administrations, both Brescia and Verona, began analyzing and evaluating interventions that, in the event of new algal blooms, could help contain the problem by eliminating the risk of invasion of the beaches themselves. The Special Agency Consorzio Garda Uno was immediately identified, and it accepted the task promptly, as the active entity for these potential interventions, since the Province of Brescia had assigned it the management of the two weed-removal boats present on Lake Garda.
Interventions and Protection Project
However, it was quickly realized by everyone that the mobile structures then present on Garda were incapable and inefficient in preventive actions against sudden developments of sublacual flora. The only protection project providing valid guarantees of problem elimination was that of potential mowing or eradication of the algae.
The available boats, however, were neither equipped nor prepared for these specific operations. The only option was to purchase a new vessel specifically designed for such operations. The two regions, Veneto and Lombardy, through their respective assessors, expressed willingness to fund, via the provincial administrations, the purchase of this essential operational means.
The fall of the Verona provincial administration, however, put this need on hold until the new provincial board was installed. The Brescia provincial administration, also renewed last June, recently decided to “assign Garda Uno the task of purchasing a water plant eradicator boat for Lake Garda, particularly in the lower lake area between Desenzano and Sirmione.”
Furthermore, as stated in the official notice from the Environment Department of the Province of Brescia, a contribution of 156 million lire was allocated to Consorzio Garda Uno for the purchase of this vessel, of which 27 million are charged to the Province of Brescia and 129 million to the Lombardy Region. Garda Uno was also entrusted with “supplying the vessel, managing administrative procedures, tender process for the purchase, and payment. All should be completed,” the provincial note specifies, “by December 31, 2000.”