The stable meadows of the Enza Valley-‘the cradle of Parmigiano Reggiano‘ and other famous PDOs-have been waiting for the construction of the Vetto dam for more than two centuries. To independently address the ever-increasing water shortage through direct withdrawal of the Enza River’s crystal clear water.
After 40 years of tenacious struggle, farmers in the mountain municipalities and civil society united to promote the sustainable development of the valley — thanks to the drinking and irrigation water, as well as hydropower in quantity, naturally provided by the dam — instead see a paltry contentment ahead. In fact, a hoax.
In fact, the Emilia-Romagna region assumes a reservoir of 25 to 27 million cubic meters (mc). Slightly more than 1/6 of the 147 million cu m it estimated it would need in 2018. On this choice depends the food security of fruit and vegetables and fodder, as well as milk and Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, which still depend on the waters of the Po River.
Vetto Dam, the initial design
The visionary design of the Vetto dam, drawn up by Giuseppe Carlo Grisanti, dates back to 1800. ‘He lavished huge sums of money and phenomenal activity on this project, but all his energy and enormous efforts broke against the barrier put up against him by ignorance, by bad faith, by envy, by reluctance […] to welcome new ideas even in
opposition to their interests,’ report the diaries compiled at the time. (2)
‘It wassaid then that the time was not ripe for this undertaking, but it seems to take centuries for us to mature ideas now common and put into practice throughout the world from the earliest ages.
This vast project was not understood or was not intended to be understood and it is remarkable that a large part sided with the opponents claiming that the project was not practical although by their own statement they never that they saw it (…).
Everyone recognizes the need to provide water; the value it has for agricultural production (…). It is difficult to be able to account for this phenomenon of oppositions against works that are recognized by the opponents themselves as absolutely useful.‘ (2)
Vetto Dam, early developments
From generation to generation, the project of the ‘Grisanti reservoir’ to derive water from the Enza River was submitted in 1863 to the Higher Council of Public Works, then integrated to the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Rome and forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture. With the idea of building two dams, at the Stretta di Vetto and the nearby Stretta delle Gazze, which would have allowed 11 thousand hectares of land to be irrigated for at least 100 days a year.
Plans were approved by the provincial councils of Parma and Reggio Emilia in 1891 and 1892, the concession issued in 1907. In 1921 the Ministry of Public Works introduced the idea of developing two hydroelectric power plants that would power, among other things, the Bologna-Milan and Parma-La Spezia railway lines. State Railways was thus involved in the project to build two larger capacity reservoirs, totaling 100 million cubic meters, with two power plants of 25 and 6 mw.
Pre-war perspectives
The size of the reservoirs would have made it possible to irrigate 16 thousand hectares of land on a regular basis, as well as provide abundant drinking water and renewable energy to local communities. And to ensure the constant flow of river water, ‘eliminating the very serious inconveniences that large floods produce downstream.’ So as to save the huge annual expenses for restoration of damage caused by hydro-geological disruption.
In 1928 , the provincial councils of Parma and Reggio entered into an agreement with the Val d’Enza hydroelectric company, and the minister secretary of state for public works approved the concession for the construction of the work. But the economic crisis decreed a halt to the work shortly after it began. The Second War and subsequent reconstructions then caused the Enza River dams to fall into disrepair.
From the First Republic to the Second Republic
In 1987 , Environment Minister Carlo Ripa di Meana declared the urgency of executing the Vetto dam for irrigation (127.7 mln cu m), industrial and civil (47.8 mln cu m) and hydroelectric uses. The Green member – later appointed by Jacques Delors as European Commissioner for the Environment – fully grasped the environmental value of the work, in the need to preserve rather than waste the pure waters of the Enza. And produce energy, clean energy moreover, instead of consuming energy to pump polluted water from the Po River up to the Via Emilia.
Work was thus started but promptly suspended, 16.8.89. Because of the instrumental oppositions of pseudo-environmentalist and pseudo-consumerist associations-such as WWF, Codacons, and the Friends of Nutria-which have always been very sensitive to hidden sponsors. It was not until 8.10.98 that the United Sections of the Supreme Court resolved the dispute, in favor of the dam. But the 1980s had flown by, along with the boom in public investment in infrastructure. And work on the Vetto dam never resumed again.
40 years of battles
Forty years of battles, at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, have seen the Vetto Dam Promoter Committee oppose a system of parasitic can-do that is rooted in water (dysfunctional) management. On the one hand, there are those who want to retain the pure water of the Enza River upstream, to use it where it is needed to irrigate stable meadows and their crops, as well as to take advantage of the electricity that can be obtained from it. On the opposite side there are those who stand behind various banners for such water to be wasted.
The reason why is as simple as it is illogical and perverse. The Enza Valley has an average annual demand of more than 200 million cubic meters of water. Wasting water from the Enza River ensures the continuity of the demand for water that the Central Emilia Reclamation Consortium withdraws downstream from the Po River and re-raises it upstream. Money, power and chairs managed, in this case, by the Coldiretti magic circle (3,4).
The Bonaccini water diet
In 2018, the Emilia-Romagna Region’s technical table for the Val d’Enza indicated the need for 47.8 million cu m/year for civil and industrial uses and 100 million cu m/year in reservoir (54.2 million cu m/year in field) for crop and agricultural uses. Total demand, 147.8 million cu m/year.
In 2020, however, Governor Stefano Bonaccini has decided to apply a strict diet to ‘The Water Resource in the Val D’Enza. (5) Starting with ‘raising awareness of water-saving policies‘ and ‘shifting to less water-demanding arable crops, safeguarding stable grassland areas‘.
Water, however, can only be saved if there is a reservoir to hold it in times of abundance, otherwise the water flows down to the sea. (Isaac Newton, Law of Universal Gravitation, 1687). Bonaccini’s water diet can then suffice for prickly pear crops, perhaps. But the Enza Valley needs a real reservoir, adequate to the needs that were already clear from the 1800s, no longer depending on raising polluted water from the Po.
The politics of ponds
The pond policy is obviously the one favored by Vincenzo Gesmundo, Coldiretti’s chief executive. Because it allows for the multiplication of feasibility studies and projects, financing and procurement, land development, agreements with large suppliers (e.g., ENI, Enel), new management bodies and chairs. Blue gold is the new frontier for draining public and private resources and exercising power, core business of Palazzo Rospigliosi (6.7).
However, when farms are active and crops are those of tradition-as in Emilia-Romagna, the first region in the world in terms of the number and turnover of its PDOs and PGIs-the ponds risk emptying at the first heat, to offer only the lunar vision of an empty reservoir. The litmus test of a policy so reckless, in the Enza Valley, as to persist in denying water needs that have already been clear for at least two centuries.
Water quality in agriculture
Of the surface water used for irrigation, 81 percent is derived from the drainage network, a senior researcher at the Emiliano Romagnolo Canal (ERC) explained in 2012. (8) The reclamation network ‘frequently performs the dual function of drainage and irrigation.’
‘All of these watersources are potentially subject to altered physicochemical and microbiological conditions from different sources such as illegal discharges, seepage from landfills, unpurified sewage of urban or livestock origin, saline seepage, and input of pesticides (9) and nutrients.
In this situation, agriculture appears as a source of pollution in terms of the presence of nitrogen, phosphorus, pesticides and heavy metals from their decay in water, but also as a victim of urban and industrial pollution.’ (8)
Wastewater in agriculture
‘In the near future‘ – wrote the researcher of the Emilia-Romagna Channel in 2012 – ‘it is also foreseeable that the agricultural sector will mainly receive wastewater from sewage treatment plants, both for productive reuse and for the possibility of exploiting the purification capacity of agricultural soil as the final treatment of the effluent. (10)
In this general framework, it is more essential than ever to carefully consider the risks associated with the use of polluted water for irrigation purposes and, above all, to define a criterion for assessing the impact of these on soils and agricultural production‘. (8)
Microplastics in agriculture
The first study on microplastics (MP) in agricultural wastewater (Magni et al., 2019) was conducted in Lombardy. Downstream of one of the largest water treatment plants in northern Italy, built in the early 2000s. (11) The researchers estimate that the plant in question-in treating about 400,000 cubic meters of wastewater each day-releases:
– in the receiving aquatic system (the Po River?) about 160 million MP/day,
– in the 30 tons of activated sludge recycled each day (also with agricultural fate, e.g., fertilizer) about 3.4 billion microplastics.
Another Italian study (Oliveri Conti et al., 2020), on the other hand, showed how microplastics and nanoplastics-as well as being found in the air, water and various foods-also residue inside fruits and vegetables. (12)
Interim conclusions
Agrifood production in the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia still relies on the energy-intensive pumping of the not exactly ‘crystal-clear’ waters of the Po River. And to a lesser extent to groundwater, itself in some cases not without uncertainties. Fodder for Parmigiano Reggiano dairy cows and PDO Parma ham pigs, as well as tomatoes for canning and IGP Reggio Emilia watermelon, among others, depend on it.
The conformation of the Vetto Narrows and the opening of the valley upstream allow for a reservoir of about 102 million cu m with a relatively modest barrage. (13) Just enough to ensure clean water upstream, protect downstream lands from flooding, and prevent possible emerging risks to the Reggiana and Parma agricultural supply chains.
Mountain reservoirs moreover return 80 percent of their water to the environment through evaporation and return to groundwater. As well as enabling the production of renewable electricity, hydropower and perhaps solar. (14) Ecological transition, food security and sustainable land development. Also in terms of agritourism, bathing and inclusive water sports. And why not, create jobs in depopulated mountain areas.
#CleanSpades, #digadiVetto.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Giuseppe Carlo Grisanti’s design and related drawings are now kept in Reggio Emilia, at the library
University of Via Allegri and the Studium Regiense Foundation.
(2) Carlo Baldi. Dam, a great work that must be realized. Reggiana Press, May 2010
(3) In 2020, the Consorzio Bonifiche Emilia Centrale recorded total revenues for core operations of €33.5 mln, +10.2% compared to 2019, with a profit of €620 thousand
(4) The provincial Coldiretti of Reggio Emilia has been commissaried by Palazzo Rospigliosi since 7.11.04, after the resignation of its last president Marino Zani. Meanwhile, 4/5 provincial directors and 6/7 commissioners, appointed by Vincenzo Gesmundo, have changed in these 7 years. The current commissioner is Nicola Bertinelli, who is also president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium and Coldiretti Emilia-Romagna, as well as v.president of national Coldiretti
(5) Po River District Basin Authority, Emilia-Romagna Region. The water resource in the Val D’Enza. September 2020
(6) See paragraph A tragic reality, in the previous article
(7) Dario Dongo. Germina Campus, Coldiretti’s holding company speculating on farmers. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6/13/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/germina-campus-la-holding-di-coldiretti-che-specula-sugli-agricoltori-vanghepulite
(8) Adriano Battilani (2012). Water quality: a new variable in irrigation management. CER Reclamation Consortium – ANBI. The ERC, Canale Emiliano Romagnolo, is one of the most important hydraulic works in Italy. It ensures, through diversion from the Po River, the water supply of an area covering more than 300,000 hectares
(9) Dario Dongo. ISPRA, 2020 report on pesticides in water. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12/24/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/ispra-rapporto-2020-sui-pesticidi-nelle-acque
(10) Dario Dongo. Toxic sludge in the Genoa decree, repeal now. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 12/24/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/fanghi-tossici-nel-decreto-genova-abrogare-subito
(11) Dario Dongo. Microplastics in water and agriculture, first study in Lombardy. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12/18/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/microplastiche-nelle-acque-e-in-agricoltura-primo-studio-in-lombardia
(12) Dario Dongo. Microplastics inside fruits and vegetables. The Italian study. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6/21/20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/microplastiche-dentro-la-frutta-e-la-verdura-lo-studio-italiano
(13) 320 meters long, 82 meters at the highest part. 20-25% less than the last dam (420 m, 103 m maximum height) built in Emilia-Romagna, in the 1990s at Ridracoli (Bagno di Romagna, Forlì-Cesena province)
(14) Switzerland’s largest Alpine photovoltaic power plant is almost ready. Swiss TV. 8/21/21, https://bit.ly/3kj8kKr
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
