Sicilian Water Forum Vows to Block Regional Water Law

The Sicilian Forum of Movements for Water and Common Goods has announced it will oppose Legislative Decree 216, known as the Schifani bill, which seeks to restructure the island’s Integrated Water System. The proposal would replace the current nine Territorial Water Assemblies with a single Regional Optimal Territorial Area, creating a new Sicilian Water Authority that would centralise decision‑making and, according to the Forum, pave the way for future privatisation.

The Forum argues the bill reverses the spirit of Law 19/2015 – a popular‑initiative law approved after a 2011 referendum in which more than 90% voted for public water management – and calls on the regional assembly and national parliament to reject the decree outright. It also criticises the “sovrambito” tariff introduced by regional law 16/2022, calling it a “legal monster”.

A representative of the Forum said the new bill would turn the nine sub‑areas into peripheral bodies of the Authority “with consultative and propositional functions”, stripping municipalities of their water‑management prerogatives and threatening public control of the resource.