La drought of the Po it is causing problems in different areas of Italy, starting with Lombardy and Piedmont. And it is no coincidence: between January and May, in our country, the rains decreased by 59% compared to the same period last year.
"In dozens of municipalities di Piedmont e Lombardia they are already in action tankers to supply the population - Meuccio Berselli, general secretary of theDistrict authority of the Po River – because the local reservoirs draw on sources that no longer exist”. Not only that: the drought "is getting worse", to the point that "in some areas it hasn't rained for 110 days", continues Berselli.
Po drought: water rationing requested in 125 municipalities between Piedmont and Lombardy
Last week utilitalia, representing the multi-utilities of the integrated water service, had asked the mayors of a hundred Municipalities in Piedmont and of 25 in Lombardia to suspend the supply of water during the night to replenish the levels of the tanks. Many ordinances in this sense have already arrived, but the emergency is not limited to these territories.
“In the Ferrarese area, a catchment area of about 250 people, we asked to withdraw as little water as possible,” underlines Berselli. Around 300 people instead report to the purifiers of Romagna, "at the moment the luckiest because the water comes from the Ridracoli dam which has stocked up good supplies in the autumn".
Il water rationing it is already reality in agriculture, a sector that has "burst out", adds Berselli: "We ask that they withdraw less than they need to allow for a minimum vital outflow of water", although this is the period in which there would be a greater need for water to bring the crops to maturity.
We are in a "perfect storm, we have never seen a year like this - concludes Berselli - the snow in the Alps has completely disappeared, glaciers are depleting, temperatures higher than the average, little rain, hot ventilation that dries the soil... The Po hadn't had such a low flow rate for 70 years, but the truth is that we will see it even lower”.
