"Rain garden" at Tondo Gioeni sparks controversy: "Useless project and risk of collapses"

But how can it be said that the “rain garden” at Tondo Gioeni will solve the flooding on via Etnea? Below it runs the belt canal built in 1956 and one of the most important in the city. The water that constantly destroys piazza Duomo does not come from Gioeni but from the boulevards, not absorbed by the sewers because they are clogged. This is stated by engineer Tuccio D’Urso, former general director of the Municipality and, in previous years, one of the authors of the drainage system of the city which is “the largest in Italy, with about 60 kilometers.”

His invective is directed at Councilor for Maintenance Giovanni Petralia, who yesterday described the project - called Cardimed - as a solution to prevent the main axis of the city from becoming a raging river with every heavy rain. “Councilor, study first then issue statements,” he says, with little diplomacy. Then D’Urso specifies: “Injecting water into the subsoil without thorough investigations could intercept inconsistent parts, made of volcanic sand, soil, and gravel, creating voids under the roadway and buildings. This has already happened while digging the subway tunnel at Nesima station, where an unconnected sewer had washed away the soil. When the excavator arrived, a chasm opened up.”

However, the scientific manager and creator of the project, Giuseppe Cirelli, responds to D’Urso's doubts: "Of course, it is true that it will not solve the flooding problems on via Etnea. This installation is demonstrative and will serve to channel water coming from viale Andrea Doria and via Del Bosco." He then reassures D’Urso: "We have dug down to 3.5 meters deep, and we have not yet reached the belt channel." And there are no sands either: "Instead, we found rock, which has slowed our work by two weeks: now it should finish by the end of May." Cirelli, full professor of Environmental Hydrology at the University of Catania, then explains the goal of the “rain garden”. "The project, entirely funded by the European Union with 650,000 euros, so not a cent from the Municipality, is a first step towards a successful concept in hundreds of urban areas in Europe and beyond: that of “sponge city”. Installations like the one at Tondo Gioeni effectively “flood.” The water then gradually penetrates the ground through the plants that will also serve for phytoremediation, returning to the aquifer. No sewage system could do the same. Hundreds of these installations are being realized in Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia Romagna. In Sicily, we will be the first." Cirelli also responds about the waters that accumulate in Nesima and then "flow down" along the axis of the boulevards. "We would like to implement this system in areas like Orti della Susanna and the slopes in the area of piazza San Pio X and along the ring road, those near the sports hall." This is also because "lava rocks are highly permeable and have a great capacity to filter: they are perfect for the purpose." This leads to the thought that a city like Catania, largely built on lava rock, has enormous potential. "But the system is much more complex; this work alone is certainly not enough. Which, I repeat, is demonstrative."

Cirelli finally emphasizes the role of the Municipality: «Everything we are achieving, with the Administration's adherence to the European project, which is not common, is due to the determination of the Environment Director Laura Riguccio and especially to the full support of the current mayor Enrico Trantino and Professor Paolo La Greca, who was the councilor. The Municipality believed in us to collaborate on the drafting of the project. When there are these synergies, like this strategic one between the Administration and the University of Catania, it should be highlighted. So much so that the Municipality itself has become part of the national Hub on 'Nature based solutions', because with this project it can position itself alongside other cities, like Milano, as a forerunner in urban drainage».