The lands are the enchanted ones of Malvasia di Bosa, on the slopes of Montiferru. Protected lands, by law and by history. The ordeal of Planargia, between Magomadas and Tresnuraghes, Tinnura and Flussio, begins in the summer of 2019. The quiet of those places is devastated by a piercing pace of an unprecedented nauseating stench. He enters homes, "breaks" the windows of entire towns, imposes a curfew on hundreds of families. An endless column of trucks loaded with sewage sludge coming from distant Puglia pours out a stone's throw from the town of Magomadas. One hundred and fifty meters from the town centre, due to the never clarified events of the public administration, what should have been a treatment plant for the sewage sludge of the Ilva land of Taranto, Bari, Monopoli, Altamura and Brindisi was authorized and even built .

Sewer river

A sewage river destined to first cross half of Italy, then the Tyrrhenian Sea until it reaches that unspoiled enclave of western Sardinia. The war lasts a year, on one side a community devastated by that Apulian "sewerage route" and on the other Geco, a limited company that suddenly becomes the point of reference in Puglia for the disposal of sewage sludge for an entire Region. In reality, sewage sludge that in the "heel of Italy" no one wanted to treat because it was clogged with all kinds of substances, so much so that most of the plants in Puglia had been closed with legal measures and more. Therefore, Geco becomes an Apulian enclave on Sardinian land, turning an entire territory upside down. The inhabitants protest, not only in Magomadas, the defense committees of the territory are born, of the Malvasia di Bosa protected by a decree of the President of the Republic. The competent institutions are asleep, due to many omissions and many territorial complicities.

The prosecutor's blitz

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Oristano will stop what is perceived by citizens as an environmental disaster. The measure is disruptive, as it was urgent: plant seized. The Public Prosecutor Marco De Crescenzo has the papers in his hands regarding that nauseating "load", the testimonies collected by the Forestry Service, a coming and going in the Prosecutor's Office of citizens who record ailments and annoyances of all kinds. A community under seizure, forced to stay locked at home, so as not to be attacked by that unbearable stench that envelops the entire country. Subsequent investigations will tell a much more serious story, despite the fact that the inconvenience imposed on the citizens of Planargia was already enough to stop that river full of sewage sludge that was pouring from Puglia into the Malvasia promontories.

The numbers of the prosecution

The numbers of the Prosecutor's Office and the consultants in charge are a punch in the face of the exclusive characteristics of those lands destined for the production of that unique and renowned wine. The charges for the administrator of Geco Leonardo Galleri range from «unauthorized waste management activities» to «pouring into a public place, transit or into a private place but for common or other use, things suitable for offend or deface or harass people by causing emissions of gas, vapor or smoke, capable of causing such effects". The facts are put in black and white on the summons for trial. The accusation is direct and concerns an uncontrolled mountain of waste that ended up in the lands of Planargia: «7,013 tons of sewage sludge mixed with residues from crushing of inert materials were spilled in the countryside of Tinnura and Magomadas, to be considered for all purposes "waste" law (special non-hazardous waste) and not "soil improver", thus carrying out an illicit disposal of the same". The Public Prosecutor further clarifies: «the substance spilled on the aforementioned land must be considered "waste" and not "soil improver"».

Rejections without appeal

Waste, therefore, not a lot of goodness to be thrown here and there in the Malvasia countryside. What was missing were precisely the basic requirements: the material in question does not meet the criteria for ceasing to be classified as waste. To this it must be added that «Geco had never obtained authorization from the Ministry for Agricultural and Forestry Policies for its marketing or in any case the registration of the product, necessary for marketing purposes». In that "waste" they had made us end up with everything from aggregates from demolitions, residues of cement, ceramic, bricks, plastic materials, up to substances dangerous for human health, such as «the appearance and increase in the concentration of some metals heavy and hydrocarbons".

Get rid of waste

The Prosecutor's summary is very weighty: "this substance was poured onto the land in question without any agronomic reason but for the sole purpose of getting rid of it". The indictment is also detailed for the repercussions of that sewage waste on citizens: «it spread nauseating odorous emissions in the area surrounding the plant, including the inhabited centers of Magomadas, Tresnuraghes, Flussio and Tinnura, which created inhabitants of the aforementioned countries significant harassment and annoyance and in some cases even health problems, such as to force them to change their lifestyle habits".

Trial underway

This morning at the Court of Oristano the trial for the "Apulian fognopoli" in Sardinia comes to life. Hundreds of pages of expert reports, analyzes and technical opinions will be at the center of the hearing led by Judge Paola Bussu. In the field there will be the lawyers of Geco and those of the civil parties formed in the proceedings, from individual citizens to the Water Committee for the Municipality of Planargia and Montiferru, Italia Nostra Sardegna, the Environment Committee of Planargia, the Municipalities of Magomadas, Tresnuraghes, Flussio and Tinnura. If it were up to Geco, everything would have to end with a "financial penalty", as if they had forgotten a rubbish bag on the street. The civil parties don't even want to know about an oblation. They write it without half sentences in the briefs to the procedural documents: these are facts of an unprecedented gravity which have caused serious dangers for the environment and public safety, we ask for an exemplary punishment to prevent this attack on health and the environment from happening again .

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