Over the next 20 years, Italy will have to invest at least 600 euros per inhabitant for the water service. The required increase will be considerable, given that in the two-year period 2018-2019 the planned expenditure per inhabitant does not exceed 58 euros (however more than double compared to 21 in 2012). Numbers in hand, they will help at least two billion euros more a year and cover will be found in the tariff and/or in the public budget. The calculations are from the REF Ricerche Laboratory, which has published a new work entitled "Combining development and environmental protection: the awareness of being an industry".
Additional investments will be needed to achieve the objectives of containing environmental impacts codified by the Regulatory Authority (ARERA), which calls for the reduction of network losses, guaranteeing the safety of water intended for human consumption, adapting the sewage systems, returning purified water to nature that is not harmful to the environment. A path of permanent improvement that will involve the territories and the management of the water service for the next two decades.
On the other hand, Ref Research points out water tariffs in Italy are among the lowest on the continent: the average in our country is 2,17 euros per thousand liters of water, while that of the European Union amounts to 3,67 euros.
It is precisely to keep tariffs low that Italian investments have been so low in recent years. This strategy has lightened the burden on users' wallets, but has also caused various problems on the network, which suffers from a rather serious infrastructural deficit, especially in the South.
A particularity of our country is the "black hole" of illegitimate and ceased management by law, which are mainly found in the South and remain outside the rules, lacking any requirement of transparency and accountability towards users. I am even 1.500 Italian Municipalities which directly manage the water service in an irregular manner, as lapsed pursuant to the law. These managements they currently serve over 9 million inhabitants, equal to 15% of the national population.
“In the coming years, the priority is to invest in the protection of the environment and water resources – he comments Donato Berardi, director of the REF Ricerche Laboratory – While industrial management accepts to compete, makes commitments and invests to improve the service, a part of the country, that of the direct management of local authorities, remains in the shadows, outside the rules, offloading the costs on future generations".
Read the study by the Ref Ricerche Laboratory.
