Amam reports that “the interventions necessary to allow the new wells to be put into the network have been completed. Water supply is gradually returning to normal in areas where it was necessary to temporarily suspend service to carry out the work. The water from the new wells will be released into the network starting tomorrow. Furthermore, in zones A and B, water will be supplied in both areas without alternation”. In the past few hours, in fact, (only through a post on social media) “to allow the immediate release into the water network of water from the wells of Briga n. 1, Briga n. 2, Busà well and Cucìnotta well, Ordinance n°151/2024, it was necessary to carry out interventions that require the temporary suspension of water supply in the areas of the southern villages between Santo Stefano Briga and Santa Lucia Sopra Contesse, with the exception of those of Larderia, Zafferia and Tremestieri. The supply – adds Amam – will resume regularly once operations are concluded, scheduled around 6 pm. Any further updates will be promptly communicated”.
“The introduction into the water network of the water taken from the wells called Briga n.1 and Briga, N. 2, Busà and Cucinotta – Amam had previously communicated – will happen from today Friday 6 Septemberits potability having already been verified in the presence of ASP through analyses carried out by a certified and accredited laboratory. It is therefore reiterated that all the water fed into the network and distributed to citizens is drinkable”. This was communicated by Amam, after the ordinance signed yesterday by Mayor Federico Basile. The water is drinkable, says Amam, but from a formal and legal point of view it can be considered as such only in the presence of a certification from the ASP. Which is not there. And in fact Amam itself continues: “However, only pending the completion of the procedure already started to obtain the issue of the suitability assessment by the Provincial Health Authority and the water extraction license from the competent Civil Engineering Office of Messina, bodies to which AMAM has already provided all the necessary documentation, the mayor recommends, as a precaution, that it be used for hygiene and health purposes only of the waters of the municipal water network until, with a subsequent and immediate provision, communication is given of the obtaining of the formal judgement of suitability by ASP”.
In short, the water is drinkable… but it is not. And vice versa. An avoidable hitch, given that it is about 30 liters per second, compared to the thousand that are put into the city network every day? Maybe yes. It is certainly more meat on the fire in this hot summer of controversy… water.
Mayor Basile’s speech
“Today, with the introduction into the city network of water from 4 new wells, whose operations are still ongoing, we wanted to accelerate to further mitigate the inconveniences that a part of the city has experienced and is experiencing due to the water shortage,” says Mayor Basile. This is an increase in the water resource of about 30 liters per second which represents a significant contribution for the community. I would like to reassure my fellow citizens – continues Basile – that the water introduced into the network is drinkable, as reported in the Ordinance and as confirmed by the analyses conducted in collaboration with the ASP. Although there is only one bureaucratic step missing to make this certification official, I have taken on the responsibility of proceeding in derogation of the normal procedures. It is not possible, I have said it several times, to manage an emergency situation by following ordinary procedures. The water is drinkable because the analyses carried out certify it, the recommendation for exclusively sanitary hygienic use at the moment is an act due as a precaution”, concludes Mayor Basile