Naples Life,Death & Miracle

entry Sept 2004, modified Oct. 2022

Cleaning up the Sarno River

The Sarno river, in Campania, rises from the slopes of Mt. Sarno near the town of that name. (It's the evident blue line running halfway across the top of this image. It empties into the gulf of Naples near the Rovigliano Rock, between Castellammare di Stabia and Torre Annunziata. The river passes through the Campanian provinces of Salerno, Avellino and Naples. The Sarno is 24 km long, and the Sarno basin (that is, the area drained by the river and its tributaries) covers 715 sq. km (276 sq. miles), an area confined by the Picenti mountain range, the Salerno range, the Lattari range, and the Somma-Vesuvius volcano. That area is densely populated, containing 750,000 inhabitants.

The Sarno is the most polluted river in Italy. A toilet. That is aggravated by large-scale dumping of untreated agricultural and industrial waste into the river. The area is also tormented by frequent flooding and mudslides; in the last 20 years, the banks have ruptured two or three times a year, causing spill-over of polluted waters into the adjacent countryside with great risk to public health. The manmade drainage canals and sewers along the length of the river, meant to handle run-off from rainwater by channeling it into the river, are also frequently clogged with debris and even cemented over in some places, thus increasing the flood risk.

Pollution levels "evolve" along the length of the Sarno. At the source, near Mt. Sarno itself, the river is still in a rather natural state (though "pristine" in an area of 750,000 people is stretching the description a bit). Flowers grow on the banks and fish swim in the waters. As it is channeled through the town of Sarno, itself, at the foot of the Picenti range, it is still a pleasant little stream (photo, right). A few kilometers farther along, however, at the confluence with the Cavajola river (flowing from its source near Cava dei Tirreni) and the Solofana river (from the mountains in the province of Avellino), the pollution picks up and is visible. There are dumps along the banks. By the time you get to Scafati, there is chemical foam in the water.

So, is there any good news? Maybe. The plan is to clean up the entire length of the river plus the tributaries for a grand total of 170 km of waterway. The result would be a Sarno Park and would fit into the campaign to protect the area, which, for example, now also includes the Vesuvius National Park right next door. Dredging has already begun to clear away an estimated 1,200,000 cubic meters of refuse from the water. (Imagine a cube one football field on a side. Now fill it with refuse. Now empty it.) Part of the plan involves incentives for the 500 small factories along the Sarno to stop dumping. ("Please stop dumping" signs are probably not going to do the trick.) The happy-happy politicos predict a two-year project, after which time we will be able to frolic in the pure waters of the sea near the mouth of the river. They must be kidding, but any start is welcome.

add: August 2011

Well, seven years have passed and I have not yet frolicked in the pure waters of the sea near the mouth of the Sarno. I guess these things take time. It wouldn't be the first time they have tried to do something about the river. The image on the right is from a much less crowded and polluted time in Neapolitan history. The painting is by Giovanni Serritelli (1810-1860) and is in the San Martino National Museum in Naples. It is entitled "Straightening the Course of the Sarno at Scafati." It shows the festivities at the opening of the new, straightened river on September 19, 1858 (propitious, indeed; that is the feast day of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples). The scene is the result of years of work to "fix" the river. The work was primarily aimed at shortening the length of the river; they cut it in half by eliminating the many small turns and "oxbows." This had a threefold effect: (1) it got rid of the stagnant pools of still water and swamps along the river that were breeding grounds for insects; (2) the Bourbons were planning to move their main munitions factory to that area, and a "tighter" river would increase the hydraulic energy available to mills in the factory; (3) it provided a straighter and faster route for such munitions to reach the open sea and the fleet.

updates from 2014: new marina opened near the mouth the Sarno; also see this related Green Schooner item, and this one.

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