Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
SYRACUSE – An emergency that risks testing the city’s economic and social resilience to the limit. The water crisis hitting Syracuse was at the centre of a public assembly organised by the Civic Consultative Body at the former Casa del Mutilato. The meeting was attended in person by the Forza Italia group leader on the Municipal council, Damiano De Simone, who gathered testimony from residents and shopkeepers exhausted by intermittent water supply, unannounced cut-offs and prolonged dry spells.
During the discussion, the serious knock-on effects on the local productive sector emerged: businesses forced into temporary closure with a resulting loss of revenue, and companies having to hire private tankers at their own expense to maintain minimum services.
Attack on ATI leadership and oversight of the network
In his speech, De Simone pointed the finger at the governance of the ATI (Assemblea Territoriale Idrica), chaired by the mayor Francesco Italia, highlighting years of shortcomings in oversight:
“It is unacceptable for an essential service to be reduced to daily uncertainty. People are not warned, they do not know when the water will return, and in the meantime they pay the highest price. The ATI president is mayor Italia, who bears political responsibility dating back to the previous Siam management, during which oversight and control activities were absent. That is why today we have inherited a water network in a precarious state, in places dysfunctional, even failing to insist on the application of a bond for the current management. To date, the lack of pressure for comprehensive fault detection and a programme of interventions means the city is left dry without warning.”
— Damiano De Simone, Forza Italia group leader at the Municipality of Syracuse
The announcement: a compensation fund in the next budget
In light of the picture painted by those present, the Forza Italia representative announced that he would table an economic support measure for discussion in the chamber during the local authority’s next financial manoeuvre:
- Budget amendment: the aim is to allocate funds to provide real compensation for businesses that have suffered direct damage from the network’s malfunctioning.
- Planned coverage: the grants will offset lost revenue from forced closures and the costs incurred for extraordinary supply via tankers.
“It is a moral duty of politics,” De Simone concluded, “to stand by those who, through their own sacrifices, keep the community going.”
