Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Jacob Blaustein Institutes for ...

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Sicily does not strictly belong to the arid realm but it has a number of features in
common with arid and semiarid regions. It is here acknowledged that solutions for the
Sicilian water problems can be found in the experience developed in arid and semiarid
regions because, likewise in those regions, the Sicilian water welfare depends on: a) the
physical availability of water resources connected to the use of appropriate
technologies; and b) the existence of an integrated regional management system that can
serve the goal of efficient water allocation on the basis of maximal productivity and
public welfare. In the framework of this work, it is considered to be convenient to
compare Sicily to arid and semiarid zones for the following two reasons:
a) Sicily is affected by local phenomena of water shortages related to physical water
scarcity. These are the reasons of discontinuous water distribution in several
municipalities (Agrigento and Caltanissetta provinces) and low pressure distribution in
the provinces of Trapani, Siracusa and Ragusa. In the last two decades water shortages
have reached alarming proportions so that on the 31 st of May 1999 with Regional
Ordinance number 2983, it was declared the "regional state of emergency for water and
waste water management". After ten years Sicily is still in a state of emergency.
b) Water management plays a central role in the Sicilian water welfare. In facts, only a
portion of the above mentioned water shortage can be directly attributed to water
scarcity, while, historically, inadequate water management has been the drive for
several ill services. At this respects Hess, the chair of Criminology of the University of
Utrecht, referring to Sicilian history up until the 1950's, clearly stated "springs in Sicily
are private property, their exploitation, yielding large profits, is traditionally associated
with mafioso affairs: that is, they are economic monopoly guaranteed by mafioso
power" (Hess, 1999). Nowadays the situation has different connotation but it remains
disputable and further research would be desirable.
The quantitative correlations between Sicilian water management practices and water
shortages are out of the scope of this study. The focus of this work is on the
improvement of the system of transportation of water (via aqueducts) here intended as
one of the many possible technical options available in the field of water management.