Waste Water Management for Seaside Protection

Pollution is affecting the water system from source to sea, and the main source of pollution is insufficient waste and wastewater treatment. Untreated wastewater has a material impact on human health, social and economic development and the sustainability of ecosystems and becomes a very important issue for a city like Palermo which overlooks the sea and whose name derives from the Greek word Panormos which means "all Port” due to its spacious natural harbour.
The Municipality of Palermo, in compliance with the regulations relating to the safeguarding and protection of the environment, in particular those relating to the system of collection, disposal, purification and discharge of waste water, is carrying out a set of works for the depollution of the Cala ( the ancient port of Palermo) and of the entire coastal strip, in the section that goes from the tourist port of Acquasanta to the Oreto river with the elimination of discharges by conveying the waste water to the Acqua dei Corsari purification plant. These actions and activities, which involve a catchment area of approximately 400,000 (four hundred thousand) inhabitants, by limiting the pollution connected with black water discharges, are fundamental for the protection and safeguarding of the sea and water quality.
Technically in detail, the interventions include:
1. upgrading work on the “Porto Industriale” lifting system.
2. the construction of a steel delivery pipeline, approximately 2,300 meters long, from the "Porto" plant to the intersection of via Turati and via Domenico Scinà falling within the Ship yard area of Palermo (Fincantieri areas);
3. the upgrading of the electromechanical equipment of the Porta Felice pumping station in order to allow the lifting of the higher flows that will reach it;
4. the construction of the "Foro Italico" rain basin, with a reservoir volume of approximately 15,500 m3, which will make it possible to reduce the spillage of excess diluted water into the sea;
5. the construction of a second steel adduction pipeline approximately 3,200 m long which from the Porta Felice lifting plant reaches the south-eastern trunk line by crossing the Oreto river;
6. the construction of a gravity sewage collector called “Sturzo” with a length of approximately 1,160 meters which develops between the intersection via Roma/via Amari and the existing collector on via Crispi/via La Cala.
The work, which to date is about 90% completed, has a total amount of €22.727.077,82, however the technical difficulties that arose during the works, given the scale and complexity of the intervention, require an additional sum of €4.330.000.00 for the completion of the entire project.