Maccheronis Dam Almost Dry, Baronia in Trouble. An Emergency Plan Ready in Torpè
Tourist season saved, water crisis is getting worse. Water will be drawn from a small lake downstream of the damThe tourist season has been saved, but in Baronia and Bassa Gallura the water crisis is increasingly serious. In the Maccheronis dam there are only 1 million and 400 thousand cubic meters of water left out of a reservoir capacity of almost 25 million. If it doesn't rain, the first community to have problems will be that of Torpè. When the level of the dam drops to one million the town will no longer be able to be served by Maccheronis.
Thus an emergency plan was prepared, created in record time by the Consorzio di Bonifica della Sardegna Centrale and financed by the regional public works department. From a small lake downstream from the dam, thanks to a raft, a pump and a temporary pipeline already in place, water will be brought to the town's water purification plant. For Ambrogio Guiso, president of the consortium of Bonifica, this is confirmation of a very difficult season: "We managed to save tourism but for agriculture it was a massacre and now, if it doesn't rain, there will be trouble for the populations too. A situation never seen before".
For Martino Sanna, mayor of Torpè: «The synergy between the municipality, the region and the land reclamation consortium has proven important in finding this solution, but we need to think about the future to give certainties to the territory». The lake that will supply Torpè has a capacity of over 300 thousand liters. The town is safe for a few months, but if it doesn't rain it will be another disaster, also because it will be impossible to plan the next agricultural season.