Lake Lugano polluted; “inspection” by Swiss officers in Italy

“On the morning of Tuesday 23 April, we met two representatives of the Ticino State Council, in Porto Ceresio. The reason was to verify the state of health of Lake Lugano and the responsibilities of Italy.” The news, which appeared on the blog of the environmental association “Legambiente Valceresio” and in the Swiss newspaper “Corriere del Ticino”, focuses attention again on the situation of the lake. The MPs of the Free Democratic Party of Lugano, Fabio Schnellmann and Roberto Badaracco, were invited by the minority town councillors Franco Pozzi and Marco Prestifilippo to get a sense, in person, of what has been happening in the lake since the frequent warnings of pollution of the shared waters of Lake Lugano.

Legambiente, who have always been at the forefront in the fight for a clean lake, also took part at the meeting. “For many years our association has been warning that there have been worrying anomalies in the management of drains and spillways, which periodically let sewage flow directly into the lake or streams. These, in turn, carry both biological and chemical pollutants, which come from domestic drains, to the river mouth,” said Milena Nasi Benetti, a member of Legambiente Valceresio. “The results of our surveys have almost always been contradicted by the tests of other authorities, especially those of various local health authorities,” Nasi Benetti admits. “Anyway, in neighbouring Switzerland, they aren’t very convinced that our purification methods are reliable, and have widely advertised this fact, in more or less institutional newspapers, and with questions to government bodies.”

The Ticino MPs have shown great interest in examining the problem of the pollution in depth, and have asked the Italian authorities for further explanations on the efforts made up to now, and shown appreciation of the efforts made by the environmentalists.

“Simple warnings are not enough. We’ve decided it is time to take more effective actions,” explained Legambiente Valceresio. “The first step will be to force Porto Ceresio, Lavena Ponte Tresa and other lakeside towns to admit that there’s a problem of purification and pollution. Only with this common awareness will we be able to identify possible remedial actions and to raise the money to carry them out.” Consequently, the two Ticino councillors have announced they are going to ask the State Council to contact the authorities of the towns of Porto Ceresio, Brusimpiano and Lavena-Ponte Tresa, to ask them to do something to stop sewage flowing into the lake. On the other side of the lake, the environmentalists in Varese Province are going to renew their appeal to local authorities to take responsibility and cooperate effectively.