Mayors get down to discuss the lake. “New solutions to reduce pollution”

The town councils are moving independently on the Lake Varese; they have asked for urgently required intervention by the Provincial Council to take stock, also of the ATO (Optimal Territory Environment), and have decided to ask universities in Italy what the most suitable and advanced techniques are to reduce the “internal load” of phosphorus and other nutrients.

This is what emerged at the meeting in Varese Town Hall, which had been called by Attilio Fontana, in which mayors and representatives of the lakeside towns took part. Today’s meeting was held less than 48 hours after the environment committee had met in Palazzo Estense, last Monday, in which several technicians took part. Today the administrators took some preliminary decisions.

It was agreed by the participants (from Cazzago Brabbia, Buguggiate, Bardello, Azzate, Bodio Lomnago, Biandronno, Galliate Lombardo and Varese) to draw up a shared document and to send it to the Province, calling for a negotiation meeting to work on two problems.

Firstly, it is necessary to identify the best techniques for reducing the pollutants produced by the lake. At the meeting, Luca Marsico, Chairman of the Environmental Committee of the Region and former provincial councillor, estimated that the level of phosphorus in the water in the lake was around 80%. This marked eutrophication is due to dumping over the last few decades, which, today, is the cause of the greatest evil. “Let’s start here, and try to understand whether there are any systems today that are more effective than the Phoslok method and hypolimnetic withdrawal (purification of water from the deep layers, ed.). To do this, let’s contact the universities in Italy that are working on these matters, and then decide what to do,” said Marsico.

Then, the other problem was the drains, especially in years like this one, when there are large quantities of rain and crazy weather, with a subsequent explosion of algae. According to the experts, this is the fault of the sewer system going haywire.

At this point, it was the Mayor of Varese, Attilio Fontana, who mentioned the authority for the cleaning of Lake Varese. “Let’s ask them which drains are the most important, and how the floodways work, to determine which interventions need to be carried out, also immediately by individual administrations. Then, we’ll also check whether the current purification plants are sufficient, or whether we need new ones, with different flow rates calibrated to the current drains. To intervene on this, we’ll probably have to wait for the ATO to start. so the participation of the Province is essential.”

A number of critical points emerged during the brief debate, linked also to clearing the lake of algae, which this year is being done following requests from a number of councils; the problem is the sedimentation of submerged algae colonies, which increase the nutrient load if they are not adequately removed. “We’re going to contact the Province also on this matter,” Fontana said. “In the meantime, we could also consider forming a consortium of councils for an initial intervention.”

Stefano Clerici, the Environment Councillor in Varese, also took part in the meeting today, although he was unable to arrive before the end of the brief debate, because of a pollution emergency in Capolago.