Tests OK. The dam held up under “catastrophic” conditions

Go ahead for the first tests of the dam over of the River Olona, at the Mills in Gurone, in Malnate. From Friday, the flood detention basin will be operational, and in the next few hours, emptying will begin of the of the storage capacity, which have collected 1.5 million m³ of water over the last few days, to simulate catastrophic flood conditions. This is what might happen if there is a flood of the kind that occurs approximately only once every 500 years.

On Thursday morning, an inspection was made by the Ministerial Commission, whose technicians gave the go ahead for the plant, which has already been used during these last few weeks of intense rain, to the extent that the River Olona was not probed during June. The authorities of the Province, who had made the work possible by investing several millions of euros, were also present. So, the President of the Province, Dario Galli, and the Councillor Luca Marsico were also there.

Over the next few days, the dam will be emptied, but it isn’t complete. In a few months, there will be new tests, again with the storage capacity filled to the brim. “Only then will we be able to claim to have done all of the tests,” President Galli explained. “But today, we can certainly say that from tomorrow, the dam will be operational. In the event of a flood, the valley will be protected against any overflowing.”

In the event of heavy rain, the job of the dam will be to release only the amount of water that the River Olona can manage downstream, about 36 m³ per second. The remainder will be held by the flood detention basin. During the construction, the historical Mills of Gurone were preserved, with a large protection ring, which will prevent the water from entering in the event of the sort of flood that we have had over the last few days, being built around them. “It’s an impressive work,” the technicians present said. “It all works fine; the dam is safe and operational.”