Poggiomarino: Car wash seized for illegal dumping in the Sarno River

Poggiomarino – A car wash in Poggiomarino has been seized by the Naples Metropolitan Police for illegally discharging polluting wastewater directly into the sewer system, worsening the already critical situation of the Sarno River.

The operation, carried out yesterday by the Sarno Special Emergency Unit (USES), was coordinated with the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor's Office and with the technical support of GORI specialists. The investigations revealed a well-organized environmental fraud.

Although the workshop was equipped with a proper purification system and a collection tank, officers determined that the manager was knowingly using a bypass system. This device, activated intentionally, diverted the flow of wash water, completely bypassing the purification plant. The wastewater, thus laden with pollutants, was then channeled unauthorized into the sewer system, clearly damaging the ecosystem.

"The purpose of the precautionary seizure is twofold: to prevent the continuation of the crime and to avoid worsening its consequences," the Metropolitan Police explained.

The operation is part of the broader "Sarno Protocol," a plan of understanding signed in December 2025 by three Public Prosecutor's Offices (Avellino, Nocera Inferiore, Torre Annunziata), the Attorney General's Offices of Naples and Salerno, ARPAC (Regional Environmental Protection Agency), and all environmental police forces. The goal is a coordinated and severe crackdown on the crimes that have plagued the waterway, considered the most polluted in Europe, for decades.

The fight to clean up the Sarno River, therefore, continues with targeted actions across the region, targeting those businesses that, by circumventing regulations, continue to threaten the health of the river and the entire region.