Bad surprise at Magnolia park in Giostraduring the ongoing works to return the property to the city. According to what he reports the commissioner’s office for the redevelopment of Messinachecks carried out on the ground revealed the presence of pollutants.
In particular, checks on the surface layer revealed the presence of concentrations higher than the threshold of concern for some contaminants such as lead and compounds belonging to the aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) family. It could be the consequence of abusive activities conducted in the past on the site, since PAHs are mostly generated from the combustion of organic material, fuel oil, gas, coal and wood. In all likelihood, various types of materials were burned in the park land and the substances fell onto the surface soil contaminating the first layer.
Scurria: “More in-depth checks are necessary”
These are hypotheses and further investigations will be necessary as explained by the sub-commissioner for the rehabilitation of the Messina slums Marcello Scurria who went to the site for an inspection: “Here at Magnolia Park we worked with the aim of returning it to the city. Unfortunately, during the verification and approval phase of the executive project, it emerged that in the superficial part there are polluting substances accumulated over the years. We have already filed a complaint with the competent authorities and we are securing the site. Now we will proceed with checks at greater depths, two and three metres, to check if there are similar situations. If pollutants were to appear even deeper down, we will have to proceed with the remediation as we are doing in Fondo Saccà and Fondo Basile. This will take further time but we are not stopping, we are moving forward with the redevelopment and rehabilitation action.”