Water socialisation: il caso del lago di Occhito

The aim of the contribution is to describe a bottom up initiative undertaken by citizens and local administrators aimed at a multifunctional use of water through a Lake Contract. Although the scaffolding of the water resources management system still responds to a top-down logic which - however weakened in legal and fiscal terms - continues to maintain a certain weight, concertation practices have progressively multiplied through various forms of inclusive planning, such as program agreements, various types of agreements, river and lake contracts. The case study of the Lago di Occhito contract is to deepen the theme from a water socialization perspective, the Occhito dam on the border between Molise, Puglia and Campania, is among the largest dams in Italy, the territorial area on which the Contract of Lake focuses has been identified by a specific promoting committee and refers to a larger area which coincides with the entire catchment area which includes 41 municipalities in three different regions: 22 from the Molise Region, 9 from the Campania Region and 10 of the Puglia Region. The water issue represents an interesting example of environmental risk linked to human action, the work therefore has the aim of studying a specific territorial area where it is intended to activate a common strategy on the basin and develop a Lake Contract to be implemented through the activation of a concertation process involving all sectors interested in the management of the lake system. The idea is to transform the basin into a multifunctional area, where there is a meeting of ideas and people, experienced as a “common good” in which to share and convey the material and immaterial needs of civic living.