Desalination plants to tackle drought emergency in Sicily. The decision was made by the Steering Committee for the water crisis chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Matteo Salvini. This is according to a note from the Ministry of Transport. In the afternoon meeting, attended by, among others, the Minister for Civil Protection and Marine Policies Nello Musumeci, the President of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani, the Deputy Minister for the Environment Vannia Gava, the Undersecretary for Agriculture Luigi D’Eramo and the Undersecretary of State for the Department of Economic and Financial Affairs Alessandro Morelli, “it was decided to entrust full powers to the extraordinary national commissioner for urgent interventions connected to the phenomenon of water scarcity, Nicola Dell’Acqua, to proceed with the acquisition and installation of desalination plants and implement the measures necessary to deal with the emergency”, explains the ministry. This will allow the procedure to be halved. Expected expenditure is approximately 100 million euros financed with regional FSCs, subject to an agreement between the State and the Regions.
The meeting follows a note from the president of the Sicilian region, Renato Schifani, who recently sent the first part of the integrated plan of urgent and non-deferrable interventions to overcome the emergency, asking the Government for a discussion table, the Ministry recalls. Due to the water emergency, a state of emergency was declared for the Sicilian region on May 6. “The reactivation of the three desalination plants in Sicily will be able to take place in times compatible with the water emergency that is involving the island. And this is thanks to my request for derogation powers reiterated today during the meeting of the National Control Room for the water crisis, chaired by the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini”. This was stated by the President of the Region, Renato Schifani, at the end of the meeting which was also attended by the Minister for Civil Protection Nello Musumeci, the Deputy Minister for the Environment Vannia Gava, the Undersecretary for Agriculture Luigi D’Eramo, the Undersecretary for the Dipe Alessandro Morelli and the Extraordinary Commissioner for the National Water Emergency, Nicola Dell’Acqua.
Schifani’s satisfaction: «My request accepted»
“I am happy – continues President Schifani with satisfaction – that my proposal has been accepted, thanks to which the construction times will be halved. Even though we have already found the necessary financial resources, 90 million in the Cohesion Agreement and 10 in regional funds with which we will also build a temporary desalination plant in Porto Empedocle – he continues – there was the risk, in fact, of not being able to build the plants within the next season due to the long times required by the ordinary procedures. In a spirit of maximum institutional collaboration and in the exclusive interest of the population, therefore, I suggested that Commissioner Dell’Acqua, to whom the law had assigned full powers of derogation and not limited like those granted to me by a simple order of the head of the national department of Civil Protection, deal with it. I want to thank the national government for the attention dedicated to the issue of the water emergency in Sicily and for the resources allocated to finally adapt the Sicilian water network. These are fundamental works for the near future, given that, as a result of now irreversible climate change, we will be forced to increasingly deal with long periods of drought.”