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Interviewing Mr. Vario and Mr. Marino, who are respectively the architect and the engineer in charge at the civil engineering department.

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Interviewing Mr. Vario and Mr. Marino, who are respectively the architect and the engineer in charge at the civil engineering department.

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Interviewing Mr Santoro, central manager of the  Basin authority .

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Interviewing Mr Santoro, central manager of the  Basin authority .

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Talking to Mr Santoro we understood that there is also a problem with the design of the anthropic structures near the stream such as the railway and the road; in order to build the latter, the riverbeds were narrowed, which is the reason why the water does not flow away properly.

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The stream Verderame after cleaning, following the flood of 2022.

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37.968863133352194 12.5219464302063 Salinagrande (91031)

Name of the EU-funded project that is being monitored
UFFICIO GENIO CIVILE TRAPANI-OPERE DI REGIMAZIONE IDRAULICA DELLA ZONA DI SALINA GRANDE (TERRITORIO DI TRAPANI E PACECO)
Effectiveness evaluation

Useful intervention but presents problems Has had some positive results and is all in all useful, even if it presents significant negative aspects

Progress at the time of monitoring Executed - after the execution phase Concluded

OFFICIAL INFORMATION AT THE TIME OF MONITORING
Access up-to-date information on the OpenCoesione government portal
Subjects

Programmer
REGIONE SICILIANA
Actuator
REGIONE SICILIANA
Beneficiary
REGIONE SICILIANA
Implementer
EFFESER
Uploads & links

Links & sources

Project objectives

The project we are monitoring deals with the hydraulic regulation of the trait of Verderame torrent, that goes through Salinagrande, a small town in the province of Trapani, namely in the municipality of Misiliscemi. Trapani's province, in Sicily. Its principal goal is to prevent the flood of the torrent, which would cause serious damages to the local population.

Foreseen activities

When we went to Salinagrande for the monitoring visit, we observed, on the left, directly from the Verderame bridge, the lifting implant, which was built in 2015.
As we were able to see, it is formed by a valve that, together with the engines, avoids the flood and cleans the stream from the scrap that punctually blocks the machines. In fact, when the water amount overcomes the maximum capacity of the channel, the valve will get closed and the scrap will get unloaded in the accumulation tank, where, right after that, will get aspirated by the pumps to avoid the water to reach the houses. In the last few years, the rainfall has increased and the calculations previously made haven't proved effective anymore, for this reason they need to be reviewed.

Project origin

The project born following the D.D.G. n. 959 of 23/12/2011. The authorities concerned are: the general director of basin authority, the civil engineering department, the architet Vario and the engineer Marino, the sicily region.

Beneficiaries

The people that could have benefitted from the project we monitored would be salinagrande's citizens, above all the people who live in houses near the torrent.

Context

The reliability of this project is necessary because of the proximity of the torrent to the houses, and the consequent risk of flooding due to the rainfall amount, just like it has already happened.
When the project was just created the results were evident, but over time, because of the missed maintenance, the project stopped working effectively.

Progress

The project is finished and both the stream bed and bank have been recently put back, thanks to the reserved funds for the maintenance. The torrent is now in good conditions, but just a few months ago was in a terrible state (as the citizens of Salinagrande told us when we interviewed them): the banks did not almost exist anymore and the torrent was full of plants, dirt, and mud. On the deepest side of the torrent, however, the plants are already restarting to grow despite the recent maintenance.
When the project was just created the results were evident however, over time, the project stopped working efficiently because of the missed maintenance.

Results

We are mentioning information obtained from interviews to Salinagrande's inhabitants, its mayor, as well as the mayor of Paceco.
When the project was just created the results were evident, but, over time, the project stopped working effectively because of the missed maintenance. We did a field visit in January 2023, some years after the end of the project.

Weaknesses

We didn't like the missed maintenance that may have caused the flood in 2022. Besides, a lower amount of money was used, compared to the amount that had been allocated, money that could have been spent for a redesign operation of the bridge that was poorly designed and consecuently did not alllow the outflow of the water. In fact this redesign operation had been requested from the basin authority (information we got by the general director of basin authority during the interview).

Strengths

At the beginning the project was well conceived, and we liked the timeliness with which it was carried out. We liked its initial design, but we didn't like its final results due to the lack of maintenance.

Risks

If the problems we encountered are not solved, the constant rainfall of the future years could bring about the same old issues.

Ideas and solutions

On the one hand the work could certainly be improved by maintaining it more frequently and in a more efficient way, on the other hand reinforcing the banks could also help, as they are made of dirt so they will easily debase with weathering.

How was the information collected?

Web research

Visit to the project's location, documented by pictures or videos

Interview with the users and/or final beneficiaries of the intervention

Interview with other types of people

Interview with people responsible for the project's implementation

Interview with political leaders

We interviewed the general director of basin authority (who is responsible for the maintenance of a part of the torrent), the mayor of the Municipality of Misiliscemi (Salinagrande is a district of Misiliscemi), the architect and the engineer that took care of the realization of the project.

Main questions

The two main questions that we have asked are: "Have you ever seen if there was any maintenance before the 2022 flood?", "Did everyone, who got damages to their buildings, receive some refund?"

Main answers

Two were the main answers: "No, the maintenance was only done after the flood, they cleaned the torrent, but it should have been done before, because, in my opinion as a resident of Salinagrande, if the torrent had been cleaned previously, the flood would have still happened but with less damages." and "The refunds were received only by some people. As for me, I got a 11,000 euro of refund."

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37.968863133352194 12.5219464302063 Salinagrande (91031) Name of the EU-funded project that is being monitored UFFICIO GENIO CIVILE TRAPANI-OPERE DI REGIMAZIONE IDRAULICA DELLA ZONA DI SALINA GRANDE (TERRITORIO DI TRAPANI E PACECO) Effectiveness evaluation Useful intervention but presents problems Has had some positive results and is all in all useful, even if

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Thanks to Mr Foderà, an ISTAT  data expert, we learned how to analyze data so we immediately  go to work

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Weather data allowed us to analyze different rainfall data, thanks to which, we were able to understand the problem of the river Verderame flooding the city.

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tabella precipitazioni dal 1973 al 2022.docx

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Graph related to rainfall that occurred over the years.

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Comparison between the rainfall in 2015, when hydraulic regulation work was done and in 2022 when a serious flood hit the city. Comparison of maintenance with another similar project.

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money spent on the maintenance of the stream Verderame.

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We took inspiration from the title of this film for our team's name.

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Singin' in the Rain (Full Song/Dance - '52) - Gene Kelly - Musical Romantic Comedies - 1950s Movies

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Presentazione del team  “swimming in the rain”

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Conclusion of the third step.

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Monitoraggio civico del torrente Verderame

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Thanks to social media, we were able to spread our research.