Fourth – The Carabinieri of the Noe of Naples have carried out a heavy blow to environmental crime, seizing the Galleria Spinelli, a sewer collector that discharges its wastewater into the sea of Licola.
The investigations, coordinated by the Prosecutor's Office of Naples North, revealed a disconcerting scenario: years of lack of maintenance have transformed the tunnel into an open sewer, pouring tons of fecal waste into the Quarto canal and, consequently, into the sea.
The Arpac analyses speak clearly: the concentration of Escherichia Coli is 250 times higher than the legal limits, making the water highly toxic and dangerous for the marine ecosystem.
The investigating judge has ordered the preventive seizure of the Spinelli Gallery, appointing a judicial administrator who, together with the Municipality of Quarto and the Campania Region, will have to urgently provide for the cleaning and safety of the infrastructure.
Porcura hypothesizes the crime of environmental pollution of the surface water body, better known as the 'Quarto canal', which then flows into the sea, along the Domitian-Phlegraean coast, in the Licola Mare area.
The so-called Spinelli Gallery is a sewer collector, a hydraulic engineering work created after the 80s due to the need to be able to regulate the waste water of the entire municipality of Quarto.
At the end of the tunnel itself there is a system of comb grates and a hydraulic system called a spillway/divider, the purpose of which is to retain the coarse fractions deriving from the sewerage networks and to divide the sewage and first rain water into a collector that ends in the Cuma purification plant, before flowing into the sea.
The investigations, directed by the Prosecutor's Office of Naples North and delegated to the Carabinieri of the Noe of Naples in collaboration with the technicians of Arpac, have brought to light a scenario of serious environmental pollution, linked to the decade-long failure to plan maintenance works on the infrastructures, responsible for collecting waste water from the municipality of Quarto, failing to provide for the cleaning and unblocking of the sinkhole located at the outlet of the aforementioned sewer collector.
This lack of maintenance has led to the sewage effluent leaking from the collector banks and overflowing into the canal, called the 'Quarto canal' which flows into the sea.
Specifically, the chemical, microbiological and ecotoxicological analyses carried out by theArpac they documented the presence of wastewater typical of serious fecal microbiological pollution, with the presence of Escherichia Coli in concentrations 250 times higher than the legal limits.
Arpac analyses have highlighted the concentration of Escherichia Coli is 250 times higher than the legal limits
The same ecotoxicological tests have attested an extremely high toxicity, such as to cause an evident compromise of the environmental matrices. The investigations have therefore allowed to document the existence of an abusive conduct consisting in the maintenance, in progress, over the years, of an unauthorized discharge of sewage into the Quarto canal, as well as of a damage event concerning the compromise and deterioration of the receiving water body.
The investigating judge of the Court of Naples North, as requested by the Aversa Public Prosecutor's Office, has appointed a judicial administrator to whom he will entrust the management of the Spinelli Gallery, with the aim of implementing, together with the Municipality of Quarto and the Campania Region, the bodies managing the infrastructure, the maintenance and waste removal interventions that impede the regular flow of waste from the Spinelli Gallery to the Cuma purification plant.
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Comments (1)
It is really worrying to see how neglect has led to such serious situations. The Spinelli gallery, instead of being a service, has become a source of pollution. We really need a maintenance plan that works well to avoid these problems in the future.