Persano-Serre district, a concrete example of integration of the needs for industrial development and land protection

Persano Regional Reserve, within which there is a faunal oasis managed by the World Wildlife Fund, is what remains of a large area whose beauty was appreciated even by the ancient conquerors. From, Romans to lombards, from Altavilla to Sanseverino families, from de Rossi family to Charles III of Bourbon and still later, there were several changes including the land reclamation in the fascist period which gave rise to one of the most industrious agricultural realities in the South. The establishment of this oasis by the Regione Campania, in November 1976, intended to safeguard the presence of rare fauna and flora species distributed on about 4,500 hectars, of which 400 located in the town area of Serre and 70 including lake Persano. In this regard an element that has involved considerable and rapid changes has been the barrage on the River Sele, commonly called "dam" not only for the effects it has produced on the environment but also for the economic and social implications on the whole valley. This work was made in order to raise the water level of the River Sele, thus canalizing its waters into two irrigating channels, operating for the Land Reclamation Districts in Right and Left Sele. Then the 1980 earthquake and the extraordinary intervention in the South helped to realize a strong process of economic-industrial development, that took place in five areas located between Sele High Valley and Tanagro final course. Howerer, even before the construction of their own factories by the companies, it was planned that each industrial pole would be equipped with purification plants for the residual waters of production activity; their working is substantially similar since there are always two distinct processes: a) treatment of white waters; b) treatment of black waters. At present a single Company is entrusted with the management, CO.GE.MA. (Consorzio Gestione Manutenzioni = Maintenance Management Consortium) of IRITECNA group. The waters treated in this way are then conveyed to a pipe running to the purification plant of Battipaglia and carried off into the Tusciano river. This pipe, though well concealed, is equally visible since it runs on concrete saddles along Sele left bank, not far from the oasis naturalistic path. WWF, in cooperation with ENEL, has recently studied the possibility to create an integrated oasis-photovoltaic station pole within the town area of Serre, a few kilometres from the regional reserve: the common aim is to stimulate in each of us a reflection on the potentialities and limits of energy choices and on our responsibilities towards environment.