The Government is working on a "water plan" in conjunction with the Regions.
This was announced by the Minister for the South and Territorial Cohesion
Mara Carfagna
, while the Minister for Ecological Transition,
Roberto Cingolani
, said he was concerned about the consequences on hydroelectricity.
"The water emergency does not catch us unprepared: we have been working for six months, with all the Regions and various ministries, on a" water level "that supports the entire supply chain, from reservoirs to aqueducts to final users," said Carfagna.
"The plan will be managed with an Institutional Development Agreement on which we have already had positive feedback from local authorities: the initial investment envisaged is substantial,
one billion to cover the 2021-2027 cycle
of the Development and Cohesion Fund, but it could be increased yet ", added the minister, unveiling the
project for a Cis Acqua
that could be formally launched in July after a preparatory work carried out in the last six months.
"The water emergency has been one of my priorities for action since taking office - continued Carfagna - and we are beginning to grasp the results of the action started: I strongly wanted to focus the first European solidarity program after the pandemic on water interventions , the React Eu. And a few days ago, with the definition of the ranking of the projects, a modernization and restructuring of the water networks of Campania, Puglia, Sicily and Basilicata started for 482 million. But
the problem of reservoirs or aqueducts- colabrodo is not only southern
: also for this reason we have begun to educate a national Cis Acqua, which will restore to hundreds of thousands of citizens, farmers and businesses the certainty ofdelivery even in periods of drought like this ".
The executive also received the reassurance of the Undersecretary of Health
Andrea Costa
today : "I believe the conditions are in place to declare a state of emergency", he told SkyTG24.
The undersecretary noted that "the concern of the Regions is justified and the Government will share a path with the Regions".
"We must support the agricultural sector, which is not only productive but vital for our country" thanks to the protection and maintenance of our territory.
The undersecretary of Mipaaf,
Gianmarco Centinaio
, has instead announced a
saving-agriculture decree
.
"In the face of a serious and dramatic situation with regard to agriculture, a decree is being considered, with various hypotheses on the table, to help the sectors and regions that are most in difficulty", he said on the broadcast " Italy woke up "on Radio Cusano Campus.
"After 70 years, the Po Valley is also part of these troubled territories, also because it hasn't snowed this year - specified Centinaio - with the great rivers such as the Po that have no flow, at this moment those lands risk becoming unusable because as the sea advances, it also impacts on fresh water ".
Enrico Letta
pressed on the government: "I was in the Po area and I was able to touch the issue of drought first hand, we are pushing the government to proclaim a state of emergency for drought to happen as soon as possible", said the secretary of the Pd.
The president of the national association for the management and protection of the territory and irrigation waters (Anbi), Francesco Vincenzi, is also
asking for the state of calamity, together with a
control room to monitor the catchment areas .
Cingolani: water is crucial for power plants
On the water situation "I am quite worried. We hope that at least this problem will improve soon".
This was said today by the Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, on the sidelines of a conference in Rome on Future Electricity.
On water "we definitely have a problem - said Cingolani - The flow of water for hydroelectric power is crucial, also for the cooling of power plants. We hope it is a contingent thing. We are evaluating all the actions to be taken. It is not only an energy problem, it is also agricultural ".
ANSA agency
Drought: Po run dry, Enel shuts down power plant in Piacentino - Emilia-Romagna
The flow of the river is below 8 meters, it will be compensated with photovoltaics (ANSA)
In the meantime,
Coldiretti
launches yet another alarm:
every year in Italy "89% of rainwater is lost
" and "alongside immediate measures to guarantee the population's food supply, the urgent need to start a great plan is evident. for the reservoirs that Coldiretti has been proposing for some time. "This was stated by the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini who relaunches the need for a network of small reservoirs spread over the territory, without the use of cement and in balance with the territories, to conserve water and distribute it when it is needed by citizens, industry and agriculture, with an important impact on the environment and employment.
Po river dry in Lombardy
In the meantime, at Palazzo Chigi there was the first confrontation between the ministry technicians and in the coming days, the Minister of Agriculture Stefano Patuanelli assured yesterday, there will be an update at a political level.
"The situation is delicate" admits the owner of the Mipaaf.
The Conference of the Regions will also deal with the topic, which in two meetings, one also with the head of Civil Protection Fabrizio Curcio, will make its requests: the state of emergency is discounted, which in all likelihood should receive a positive response.
The Regions will also receive a request for the provision of funds from the NRP for the construction of new reservoirs.
It is also possible that there is talk of a
common framework of ordinances to prevent water waste, with rationing
and an indication to favor the use of water for primary needs.
Which, in many cases, the Municipalities have already done independently.
Also on the table is the hypothesis of an increasingly massive withdrawal from the lakes, but we need a political agreement and an understanding with the managers of the hydroelectric reservoirs, perhaps also providing for refreshments for them.
ANSA.it
Drought: Po red alert, but irrigation continues
In the meeting of the Po Basin Authority (which has now become periodic and already updated on 29 June) to involve the Regions, the agricultural world, reclamation authorities, electricity companies and multi-utilities that deal with bringing water to homes in the decisions, for the moment, a compromise solution has been reached: not to suspend irrigation in the countryside, but to reduce withdrawals by 20%.
In fact, there is a tangle of economic and environmental problems that inexorably complicate each other: the flow of the Po is at an all-time low, it can be seen with the naked eye and with flow measurements: in Pontelagoscuro, in the near Ferrara, it reached 180 cubic meters per second, like a small river.
ANSA agency
Weather: in the week getting hotter with peaks up to 43 ° C
This causes the dreaded
saline wedge
to advance: the less water there is in the final part of the river, the more aggressive the sea becomes and rises, making the river water useless for irrigation because it is salty, but also creating many other problems for the ecosystem.
It has reached 21 km from the mouth and could advance further.
Irrigation continues thanks to the withdrawal from the northern lakes.
ANSA.it
Drought: Po, the saline wedge has reached 21 kilometers
"Having reached these levels - said the secretary of the Basin Authority Meuccio Berselli - every decision brings with it critical margins but the goal is to minimize the damage as much as possible while awaiting potential administrative additions to the territories and government bodies".
From the point of view of the supply of drinking water, attention is very high and we are ready to intervene with tankers: at this moment, the biggest emergency concerns Piedmont where the alert concerns 145 municipalities, especially in the Novara area and in the
Ossolano and where
the level of Lake Maggiore has dropped by one meter in the last 3 days
.
Lake Maggiore
Piedmont asked for help from the Aosta Valley
, who however replied that the situation is such that he cannot afford it.
Problems are also looming in the Bergamo area and in the Parma Apennines.
Attention is also very high in the Po Delta area: civil protection has carried out a survey on the purification systems of Acque Venete and Romagna Acque that serve the users of about 7-800 thousand people.
Emilia Romagna will be in a state of calamity from the next few hours and in Lazio the president of the Region Nicola Zingaretti defines the situation in the province of Rome as "serious", announcing the same provision for Wednesday: it will allow the first measures to be adopted and invite the mayors to contain water consumption.
In any case, all the recipes identified are buffer solutions either ineffective or with a very long term: the
rain would be the only one to immediately relieve some suffering.
Which, however, according to forecasts, as the observatory table on the water crisis sadly noted, is not expected to arrive soon.
Indeed, for the next few days the heat will continue, which further complicates the drought situation, as well as increasing energy consumption, whose hydroelectric production is obviously at a minimum.