Naples, Barra: sewage water poured directly into the street

Napoli, Barra: sewage water poured directly into the street. Risk of epidemic.

We are in the old part of the Barra neighborhood, almost at the end of Via Serino. A narrow street that if it were well maintained would be a truly charming alley in an old village. Instead, in this poorly maintained street, where debris falls from the balconies (if not even stones and boulders), sewage is dumped directly into the street every day. It seems incredible but in 2022 there are still places where residents are forced to walk with their own feet in sewage water dumped into the open.

Incredible but sadly true. Sewage water obviously smelly and full of bacteria. Sewage water that could transmit any disease, first and foremost cholera.

Sewage waters that stink with their foul stench shops and neighboring apartments forced to live even in summer with the windows permanently closed. Citizens who are forced to walk in these "muddy streams" made of excrement and sewage water. A very serious situation that puts public safety at risk. The risk of an epidemic is there for all to see.

Citizens have complained in vain about the situation. Complained but not too much... because we are still in Barra, a difficult neighborhood where decent citizens are even afraid to ask for help or simply a little respect because they fear running into the "little lord" on duty and then having problems. In recent days a "new" citizen who recently came to live in the neighborhood, concerned by some residents about the state of the places, wrote to the competent authorities asking for rapid intervention and something immediately moved. The ABC company for the supply of water in Naples immediately intervened on the sites verifying that the problem does not depend on a malfunction of the sewer pipes.

Indeed, the sewer pipes seem to be working regularly, they were neither clogged nor obstructed. The problem seems to arise from a fecal column and therefore the responsibility seems to be of the company Napoli Servizi that although interested in the problem via certified email, regularly received, did not intervene to promptly resolve this serious inconvenience that even puts public safety at risk due to the epidemiological risk.

Despite the reminders, despite the fact that the Municipality and the City of Naples were notified as well as Napoli Servizi itself, it seems that Napoli Servizi has not yet intervened to resolve the problem, leaving residents in such a state of discomfort throughout the summer period, including mid-August up until today. The reasons why Napoli Servizi has not promptly resolved this problem are not understood.

We always hope for a rapid intervention by the Competent Authorities and at this point also for an intervention by the Judiciary in order to evaluate the responsibilities for these delays. In the meantime, citizens are still locked in their homes, with the windows tightly closed waiting to be able to reopen them.