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The Sicilian regional government has approved a draft law to reform the management of the water service on the Island. The text, approved by the Regional Council on May 26, 2026, must now follow the legislative process at the Sicilian Regional Assembly. It is not yet a law in force, but a proposal destined to structurally impact the organization of the service.
The declared objective of the Region is to overcome the current fragmentation and introduce uniform management across the entire Sicilian territory. The central point is the transition from the current nine territorial areas, corresponding to the former provinces, to a single regional Optimal Territorial Area.
A single regional water authority
The draft law provides for the establishment of the Sicilian Water Authority, AIS: a non-economic public body representing all the Island's municipalities. The new Authority would be entrusted with a unitary governance of the regional water service.
The nine existing areas would not be completely eliminated. They would become management sub-areas and operate as peripheral bodies of the AIS, with proposal and advisory functions.
The reform also introduces the principle of the weighted average regional tariff. Through equalization and compensation mechanisms, the system should distribute water service costs more equitably among Sicilian citizens. The text also provides for the daily supply of 50 liters of water per person and the integration of the national water bonus for the most economically vulnerable users.
Why governance is decisive
Institutional reorganization does not concern only the administrative structure of the service. Governance directly impacts the ability to plan complex interventions, organize investments and support the transition toward more coordinated management.
The ARERA 26/2026/I/IDR report, published in February 2026, still identifies two cases of failure to award the integrated water service in compliance with Legislative Decree 152/2006 in Sicily: ATO 3 Messina and ATO 7 Trapani. According to ARERA, these contexts are also characterized by the presence of a plurality of managing entities, predominantly consisting of small municipal in-house management.
The Trapani case helps understand the complexity of the transition. The Council of Ministers deliberated on December 23, 2024 the exercise of substitute powers for the transitional award of the integrated water service management in ATO 7 Trapani to Invitalia, as a qualified public entity identified by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.
In the monitoring for the second half of 2025, ARERA reports that the award to Invitalia was operational but not yet activated, with technical roundtables initiated between ATI Trapani and Invitalia.
These elements show why the debate on the reform cannot stop at defining the new territorial perimeter. The real test will come in the implementation phase.
From regional steering to industrial management
The transition to a single ATO can create conditions for more coherent planning. But the institutional framework alone is not enough.
The new Authority will be called to coordinate territories with different situations, support management transitions and define priorities on infrastructure requiring a regional-scale vision. In the official communication, the Region explicitly recalls the need to plan interventions on dams, water treatment plants and networks, necessary to counter the Island's water deficits.
The knot will be transforming regional steering into operational capacity: updated data, planning, technical expertise, clear procedures and investment continuity.
From the Sicilian reform to sector-wide comparison
Governance, planning of complex interventions, capacity to respond to the challenges posed by water deficit and ongoing climate change: these are issues concerning the entire supply chain. Operators, institutions, Public Administrations, designers and technology providers are called to compare notes on how to make infrastructure more efficient, safe and resilient, also enhancing the contribution of digitalization and network loss reduction.
Accadueo 2026 in Bari: governance, infrastructure and technologies for the water sector
The nineteenth edition of Accadueo will dedicate space to these themes, central to the entire water sector, during conferences currently being defined: network efficiency, loss reduction, water treatment and reuse, purification, digitalization and sustainability of water management.
Accadueo 2026 will take place on November 26 and 27 at the Nuova Fiera del Levante in Bari. For over 30 years, Accadueo has been the only international trade fair in Italy dedicated exclusively to the civil and industrial water supply chain: a reference event for comparison between companies, operators, institutions, technicians and the research world.
Sources
- Regione Siciliana, Acqua, governo approva ddl che riforma la gestione del servizio idrico in Sicilia, 26 maggio 2026. View source
- ARERA, Ventiduesima relazione ai sensi dell'articolo 172, comma 3-bis, del decreto legislativo 3 aprile 2006, n. 152 - documento 26/2026/I/IDR, 10 febbraio 2026. View source
