Four people were referred to the Paola judicial authority for illicit waste management at the end of an operation conducted by the Carabinieri Forestry Unit of Scalea in collaboration with the Port Authority – Coast Guard.
The check was carried out in the Arenile area, within a state-owned area which is part of a tourist complex, where the military ascertained the presence of a vehicle used as a drain cleaner, owned by a private company, intent on pouring domestic urban wastewater of a sewage nature into a municipal tank equipped with lifting pumps.
The sewage, coming from the accumulation tank of the accommodation facility, was thus introduced into the municipal sewer system and conveyed directly to the purifier. Although the structure was in possession of a discharge authorization, according to what was ascertained by the investigators, the operation did not fall within the ordinary authorized management of discharges, but constituted a real activity of movement and management of liquid sewage waste carried out by mobile vehicle, in the absence of the necessary authorizations and outside the procedures established by current environmental legislation.
Following the irregularities found, the vehicle used for the transshipment of wastewater was seized and the driver’s driving license was withdrawn. Three workers present at the time of the inspection and the administrator of the company that owns the vacuum truck that carried out the operations have been reported to the Paola Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The activity is part of the broader framework of controls to protect the environment and the coastal territory, intensified in view of the tourist season.