Drought in Tuscany, regulatory and procedural simplification to create new reservoirs
Simplify and streamline the construction of new reservoirs, from a regulatory and procedural point of view. This is the point on which the control room focused on the drought that met for the second time at Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati. At today’s meeting, in addition to the representatives of the regional sectors involved (environment, civil protection, agriculture, infrastructure and urban planning), AIT, Anbi and EAUT were also invited to those of the agricultural categories, namely Confagricoltori, Coldiretti and CIA, as well as Cispel. Together with the president Eugenio Giani, the councilor for the environment Monia Monni also intervened.
“First of all – said Giani – we want to get as soon as possible a picture of the damage that the drought has caused and is causing, in order to forward the national emergency request to the government. Secondly, we want to arrive at procedures that, beyond the present moment, will allow us to create the largest number of lakes, ponds and reservoirs and to safeguard those that already exist. We must de-bureaucratize the system of laws and regulations to allow the public and the private sector to arrive at works that can prove invaluable in times of drought. Finally – he concluded – we want to identify the sites where to immediately obtain water collection spaces to be used in times of need. The comparison was positive and together with the agricultural categories we will meet to identify strategic interventions “.
“Today’s table – explained the commissioner Monni – focused on the agricultural world above all, which is in great suffering and it is expected that it will be so for a while longer, since the forecasts are not favorable to us. We took stock both on the interventions to deal with the emergency, to be included in the emergency request that we count as the national emergency before, and on the requests of the state of calamity in agriculture, for which ARTEA has already opened the procedure for their collection. “. The important element is the establishment of a technical table with all the regional subjects involved and the technicians of the agricultural categories, to study a simplification plan, both from a regulatory and procedural point of view. “Probably this last point – he continued – is even more important given that we receive news of attempts to build new reservoirs which, however, run aground, slow down or are abandoned due to bureaucratic difficulties”. Simplification of projects means first of all a joint evaluation of the projects with all those involved in the field of authorizations to eliminate obstacles quickly.
“On the projects – concluded Monni – we want to set up an accompanying work to ensure that they themselves can be evaluated more quickly. With respect to the new reservoirs, the president has given a mandate to understand which are the 4 or 5 that can be achieved in a short time and arrive at an evaluation together with the territories to act as soon as possible “.