The shadow of the sewage sludge in the land of Malvasia

As if nothing had happened. As if the Oristano Public Prosecutor's Office had played to make holes in the land of Malvasia. As if the strong and desperate protests of the citizens of Magomadas and the entire Planargia had never existed. The resolution is marked by an object that is as mysterious and bureaucratic as it is eloquent: «Extension of the temporal effectiveness of Resolution GR no. 16/25 of 28.3.2017, relating to the Verification procedure for being subject to the EIA, for the "Project for the installation of a plant for special non-hazardous waste by drying and pyrogasification", in the municipality of Magomadas ». The content is clear: extension of the authorization to create a monster for the "pyrogasification" of the nauseating sewage sludge, in the heart of the land of Malvasia.

Tam tam sewer

Extension of another five years, as if the criminal investigation into the management of sewage sludge in that area had never existed. The regional council approves it without a blow when the harvest is starting, on the last day of September, making it public on the threshold of the second ten days of October. The tam tam runs from house to house in the land of that oenological masterpiece called Malvasia. «Very bright, light, silky, perfumed, flavourful of rose and juniper. Above all, completely dry »- Mario Soldati, the famous writer, journalist, essayist, described it 47 years ago, who came to those bends of Bosa to tell about that territory kissed by Creation.

Patience & common sense

Past history, much less the more recent one, was not needed to stop the progress of a sewage treatment plant that is ill-suited to landscape and traditions, with distances and common sense. An act, that of the Sardinian regional council, which tests the patience of a territory already marked, in every sense, by an unprecedented clash between the population and that traffic of sludge coming from the Apulian sewers, which for almost a year it poured into that construction site attached to the inhabited center of the small town, at a distance that, according to the regional waste plan, is totally violated.

Distances ignored

One thing is certain: the law, also referred to in the new regional waste management plan, expressly says that the management of this kind of waste must be located at least three hundred meters from the inhabited center, and this is already an excessively short distance. , and a thousand meters from social places, such as schools or health facilities. In reality, the distance is only half that. Yet, despite the fact that the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Court of Oristano have opened an investigation and a trial on the management of sludge in that territory, it was decided to grant an extension to that authorization, without reopening, as common sense and the rules would have suggested and imposed, the environmental impact assessment procedure.

All confirmed

What is more serious is that the Region's Environmental Assessment and Impact Service has also asked the proposing company, the Tresnuraghes Gecko, for a report on the implementation of the prescriptions and the absence of significant changes in the programmatic, planning and environmental conditions. All confirmed, project like the previous one. No change of position and, once again, ignored and underestimated distances from the inhabited center.

Underground warfare

What is taking place, however, is a real underground war that goes far beyond the land of Malvasia. There is a millionaire business at stake, linked to the management of this kind of sewage waste. There are two major chapters in this clash: the management of the sludge linked to the Abbanoa purifiers and those that until a year ago, before the invasion of the judiciary, with the seizure of a large part of that plant, and of administrative justice, they arrived with impunity from Puglia to the hills of Planargia.

Forgetful

In the resolution of the regional council, what has happened on the island in the last two years is ignored. With this repeated authorization, after the previous one remained unused for 5 years, a production threshold of 80,000 tons of sewage sludge to be managed is indicated. In practice, the Magomadas plant would have a declared and theoretical potential to treat a large part of the sewage sludge produced by all the purifiers managed by Abbanoa, over 90% of those present in the regional territory. All this conflicts with what is happening today on the Sardinian market, where, under a monopoly regime, Shift di Sanluri operates, the company that subcontracts the management of that sludge by the Spanish company Acciona, a concessionaire in the name and on behalf of Abbanoa.

Sewer contention

Therefore, in the center of Planargia a plant which has no management reliance on "Sardinian" sludge is again authorized, given that Abbanoa gives all its production to the Sanluri company. Therefore, there are two hypotheses: the first is the dispute over the sewage waste of the purifiers located throughout the island between the Medio Campidano and Planargia companies, the second, however, even more disturbing, is that this plant has just - authorized to try again the already rejected deal of "foreign" sewage sludge, Apulian in this case. One thing is certain: the issue of business on these devastating and nauseating waste from Sardinian purifiers travels under the radar. Potentates and businessmen are dealing with it, but also Courts and Prosecutors of half Sardinia who have opened files and trials on the management of this game. It is evident that the most simplistic and least onerous management is the one under accusation, that is to unload that mud in the countryside of the island, trusting in the fact that the controls of the ARPAS are clearly insufficient or most of the time non-existent.

Noe on the pitch

It is no coincidence that the Noe, the Carabinieri's Ecological Operating Unit, has already acquired, with the determination of the iron fist, all the data relating to the management and monitoring of those muds in much of the regional territory. A topic, in fact, on which a very delicate game is being played: the safeguarding not only of the chemical-physical integrity of agricultural land, but also the safety of human health and the environment.

Forgotten controls

A story as delicate as it is full of interest given the very hard dispute that is being played out over the management of sewage sludge. The lack of controls, the Noe carabinieri found a significant deficiency on the subject of monitoring the sludge discharged on agricultural land, has certainly made the sector more attractive, where clearly the profit margins can expand inversely proportional to the absence of controls. The recently renewed authorization, except for reconsideration in the self-protection, given the ongoing process on the management of sludge in Planargia, is an important piece in the chessboard of the infinite business of sewage sludge on the island. The resolution of Viale Trento leaves only one chapter open: the obligation to acquire any other opinions and authorizations required by current regulations. The shadow of the sewage sludge stretches again in the land of Malvasia, with the citizens of Magomadas and Planargia ready to raise the barricades against the new assault.