Montedison, Solvay chem companies blamed for poisoning water

'Even hospitals, schools' victims over years, 'Persistently' contaminated aquifer of 700,000 people.

(ANSA) - Pescara, March 26 - Contaminated water has been distributed to roughly 700,000 people for years throughout a vast part of central Italy, the Higher Institute for Health (ISS) said Wednesday. The State body said "even hospitals and schools" in the province of Pescara were victims of poisons that infiltrated the water supply from the massive Bussi toxic dump.

The Higher Institute for Health (ISS) said the water supply around Pescara "has been significantly, indisputably, and persistently compromised" by chemical producer Montedison and the Belgian company that absorbed it in 2002, Solvay, afflicting 700,000 people. Managers from both companies are currently being tried in Chieti, central Italy, along with 20 other suspects following an investigation by the forest service into harmful contamination. In a statement, the ISS went on to chide the companies for the "extraordinary environmental impact of the industrial activities in high-risk areas around the aquifer, and for reckless spilling". Their actions, the ISS says, contaminated the water supply of 700,000 people in central Italy over the course of years.