The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The drought worsens, towards the rationing of water

2022-06-21T09:42:15.068Z


Red alert for the Po, but irrigation continues. Lazio proclaims a state of calamity. Costa: 'the conditions exist to declare a state of emergency. Weather: peaks up to 43 degrees during the week (ANSA)


Days go by, it doesn't rain and the drought emergency worsens.

The regions are evaluating the possibility of ordinances to

ration water

in the North, such as the prohibition of filling swimming pools and the use of water for primary needs only.

While waiting for a state of emergency to be declared, which the Government intends to grant and which will, however, not be used for structural interventions but to provide refreshments to farms, which risk losing a large part of the harvest, and to provision of the necessary resources to make the tankers intervene where the taps dry up, the Po basin Authority declared, on its own, the red alert: the situation of the great river is in fact in the most serious state of emergency, probably from when you remember it.

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 urgency 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.

From the executive comes the reassurance of the Undersecretary of Health

Andrea Costa

: "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.

Po river dry in Lombardy

Meanwhile, at Palazzo Chigi there was the first confrontation between the ministry technicians and in the coming days, the Minister of Agriculture Stefano Patuanelli assured, 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 - says 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.

Source: ansa

All life articles on 2022-06-21

You may like

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.