Sicily towns call for emergency measures as water supply crisis deepens

The ANAFePC association has asked the mayors and council presidents of eleven Sicilian municipalities—including Agrigento, Sciacca, Gela and Enna—to convene extraordinary municipal council meetings open to citizens, agricultural representatives and social partners. The aim is to produce a joint document demanding extraordinary funding and accelerated work on water‑infrastructure repairs, citing structural network losses, agricultural withdrawals and climate‑related pressures.

In Agrigento’s Maddalusa neighbourhood, councilor Valentina Cirino appealed for immediate water provision, noting that residents—many of them elderly, ill or with children—have been left without supply due to missing habitability certificates. She urged the mayor to deploy temporary water trucks and adopt extraordinary measures, stressing that “water is a right, not a concession.”

In Siracusa, thirteen councillors from parties across the spectrum have submitted a request to hear the mayor, the water‑service overseer and Aretusacque executives in the municipal council. They seek clarification on recent service interruptions, low pressure, and the lack of transparent information about ongoing repairs, especially after a night‑time power surge caused safety‑system failures and partial network cuts on the island of Ortigia.

The same concerns are echoed in Siracusa’s council motion, which highlights disruptions in districts such as Pizzuta and Fontane Bianche and calls for a clear timeline for full restoration, as well as accountability for previously planned structural works that were never executed.

Separately, the Sicilian Region has officially recognised the hydraulic risk for the city of Trapani, updating the regional hydrogeological plan. The reclassification will affect urban‑planning approvals and unlock public funds—estimated at €45 million—to implement flood‑mitigation projects and restore natural water‑drainage pathways that have been lost to urban development.