Roundup: Italian Amalfi coast faces sea pollution investigation

Police in Italy's southern Campania region on Thursday announced they have seized two purification plants and investigated 16 people including two mayors for sea pollution of the local coastline.

Local authorities told a press conference that the malfunction of the purification plants caused a dramatic waste dumpling in the heart of Amalfi coast, a stretch of coastline of great beauty which is included in the World Heritage list of the UNESCO.

The mayors of the towns of Praiano and Amalfi, respectively Giovanni Di Martino and Daniele Milano, were among those investigated, according to the local press.

Authorities said the malfunctioning plants not only caused an environmental damage, but also posed a health risk to bathers at nearby beach areas.

"Unfortunately this is not the only case of this kind in Italy, where untreated sewage is contaminating many parts of coasts," Giorgio Zampetti, science director with Italian environmental group Legambiente, explained to Xinhua in an interview on Thursday.

Goletta Verde (Green Schooner), an awareness campaign of analysis about sea pollution conducted by Legambiente since 1986, said in its 2015 report that 45 percent of 266 seawater samples had bacterial loads exceeding the limits imposed by law.

That means there is a polluted area every 62 km of the Italian coastline, or as many as at least 120 polluted areas, Zampetti highlighted.

Legambiente researchers travelled around locations up and down the Italian peninsula for two months to examine the situation closely and compile the annual report.

Their findings identified coastlines of the regions Sardinia, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia as the ones enjoying the cleanest seas in the country, while the regions of Marche, Abruzzo and Sicily, in central and southern Italy, had the biggest number of polluted seaside locations.

Some of the polluted locations had not even been closed to the public so that many bathers went there during the summer season, the report underlined.

Unlawful practices in the cement cycle, sea pollution caused by inefficient treatment plants, sewage, oil pollution and waste dumping were among the most common crimes, Zampetti said.

"In fact some 25 percent of Italian population lacks an adequate water treatment system,"he noted.

He pointed out that pollution not only damages Italy's environment but also its economy.

"Italy has incurred two fines from the European Union (EU) in the past years for dumping untreated sewage into its rivers and seas, and could incur new fines, quite apart from the fact that pollution heavily hits tourism, one of our country's greatest resources," Zampetti told Xinhua.

In 2014 a total of 18,000 people involved in illicit activities along the Italian coastline were arrested or reported to police and 4,777 facilities and assets were seized, according to the report, which highlighted the cases of success in fighting crime and protecting the country's natural treasures. Endit