Water chaos in Messina. The committee: ‘the ASP has confirmed that it is not drinkable until the completion of safety works on the wells connected last September’.
The ‘We want water from the tap!’ Committee met with representatives of the Messina ASP to discuss the issues raised in its ‘Water in Messina Dossier’, which was presented to the press on 22 March last year and formally submitted to the health authorities at the same meeting.
The ASP confirmed that the water in Messina is undrinkable until the completion of the work to secure the wells connected last September, which will be carried out by AMAM and the Municipality! Only then will the ASP be able to carry out the final checks and give its opinion on the suitability of the water. We have also been told that the ASP will only assess three of the original five wells, as the two in Brig have been closed, and we wonder why and since when they were closed? Safety work too complicated? Unsafe or contaminated water? During the meeting, the committee reiterated its demand for transparency of data, in particular: monitoring prior to the 5 September decree; results of the periodic inspections carried out by the ASP in the city.
Questions and criticisms were also raised about the case of arsenic in the Nizza and Contesse districts, on which the ASP made it clear that it was not involved in the investigation,’ the note states.
Criticism
‘The meeting confirmed, despite the assurances given by the ASP about the quality of the water supplied to our city, the management criticisms and delays involving all the institutional actors, starting with the current municipal administration. In fact, while the ASP has the technical role of monitoring, it is up to the City Council and the AMAM, under the political responsibility of Mayor Federico Basile and also in its capacity as the highest health authority in the city, to guarantee timely intervention and clear information to the population! The lack of a defined plan to deal with the emergency and the failure to publish complete data leave legitimate concerns about an essential service unresolved and raise real doubts about the effectiveness of the policy. The Committee will continue its mobilisation and analysis of the data collected, will submit a new request to the ASP for access to the files, and will continue to ask all the institutions involved to account for the commitments that have not been met, with the aim of achieving a public, transparent and safe management of the water service in our city,’ the note concludes.
In this context, the existence of a spontaneous committee, born from below and made up of free people, is essential to ensure that the rights of everyone are protected and respected. The voice of the community, organised and active, can exert a form of positive pressure on institutional decision-makers, contributing to a more responsible and attentive management of collective needs. The active participation of citizens is therefore crucial to promoting effective governance that is sensitive to local concerns. For this reason, the committee’s meetings are public and open to anyone who wishes to attend, they are held at regular intervals and the dates are decided jointly,” the note concludes.
