Water: works worth 70 million carried out on eight dams in the South

The Southern Apennines Water District’s “Extraordinary Water Plan” is nearing completion: a 70 million project carried out over approximately six years and now almost finished. The core of this major project lies in improving the efficiency of eight large dams by increasing their storage capacity by around 300 million cubic metres per year, and in creating links between water systems in southern Italia to ensure they are interconnected and, where necessary, to deliver water to areas where it is in short supply.

In times of drought, water rationing and climate change, this is a deeply felt issue. When low water production due to drought is compounded by structural deficits – such as low storage capacity, unsafe reservoirs (which are often underutilised in practice) and leaky networks – water becomes a serious problem for citizens, businesses and agriculture.

What impact will the completed projects have? “Undoubtedly, greater water storage capacity makes water systems more resilient to water scarcity and reduces the risk of water rotation and rationing. To put this benefit into perspective, the optimal water supply for a drinking water network averages 200 litres per day per inhabitant: assuming that all the additional water stored is allocated to drinking water, 300 million m³ would be sufficient to supply over 4 million people consuming 200 litres a day for a year.” That is roughly the entire population of Puglia.

Until about five years ago, the southern regions already had a significant number of inter-regional water supply networks, but almost all of these facilities (mostly dating back to the 1960s and the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno) remained incomplete: dams that had not been tested, others that had been completed but never used due to structural instability (as in the case of the Acerenza–Genzano water supply pipelines in Basilicata), and water supply pipelines that either did not exist or had not been completed. In short, a system which, although built with substantial public investment and perhaps better structured than others in different parts of the country, does not in fact allow for proper water management.

This new phase begins with Law No. 145 of 2018, which appoints the Secretary-General of the Southern Apennines District, Vera Corbelli, the role of Special Government Commissioner, tasking her with streamlining the former EIPLI system – the Agency for the Development of Irrigation and Land Reform in Puglia, Lucania and Irpinia, a company that has since been transformed into Acque del Sud SpA – which, once the works are completed, will be responsible for its management. Commissioner Corbelli’s objective is to carry out works to restore the storage capacity of the entire system, comprising the dams and major water conveyance channels of the Ofanto, Basento-Bradano and Jonico-Sinni water schemes. In short, to link three rivers and the structures associated with them. The project begins with funding of 25 million from the 2014–2020 Development and Cohesion Fund, with further resources being added gradually. Most recently, 16.5 million from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). A total of 68 million. Of this, 80 per cent has been contracted.