As of: February 29, 2024, 7:04 p.m
By: Johannes Welte
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A year ago, Lake Garda had extremely low water levels.
Vacationers could walk to Rabbit Island.
Now the lake looks completely different.
Riva/Desenzano – Many Italy fans still remember: a year ago there was an extremely low water level on Lake Garda.
Huge gravel banks created a spooky scene.
Rocks that normally lie beneath the surface of the water rose dusty into the air.
The farmers in the area were worried about whether they would have enough water for irrigation in the summer.
Anyone who drives to the Germans and Austrians' favorite bathtub will see a completely different picture: the water almost reaches the top edge of the piers, at the outlet into the Mincio south of Peschiera it gushes into the river, which in turn flows into the Po.
Low tide a year ago - now the water is bubbling on Lake Garda
On Sunday (February 25), the lake level was 135 centimeters above the hydrometric zero point of Peschiera, reports the portal
larena.it
.
At the end of last year it was even 140 centimeters.
Thanks to the summer and winter rainfall, the melting snow and the careful management of water volumes by the Salionze dam, this is 90 centimeters more than on the same day a year ago.
At that time the level of Lake Garda was only 45 centimeters.
The Mincio, which flows from Lake Garda, is full to the brim.
© Kevin Mongini/Facebook
Last year there was great concern about whether there would be enough water to irrigate the fields south of the lake.
The tourist communities were also afraid that people could get seriously injured by jumping into the water because it was far too shallow.
Now even water has to be drained.
The discharge into the Mincio irrigation system in the south was doubled last week from 50 to 100 cubic meters per second.
For comparison: the average inflow via the Sarca near Torbole in the north and smaller streams is around 60 cubic meters per second.
“The measurements of the current levels are in fact the result of a rational management of the lake's water resources in recent months,” analyzes the Vice President of the Lake Garda Community Filippo Gavazzoni.
“All this is due to the excellent work of the Interregional Agency of the Po River, in collaboration with the Mincio-Mantua Irrigation Consortia and the Garda Community.”
The water crisis ensured that stakeholders are now working together
Gavazzoni: “Now the state of technology on Lake Garda is more than good with a view to the next irrigation season in the Mantua area,” assures the Vice President of the Garda Community.
“We all worked in the same boat and agreed on the derivations,” Gavazzoni continued to the portal.
In the past there were often disputes, also because the water flows sometimes affected different areas and ecological zones, some of which were sensitive and had to be preserved.
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Due to the visible effects of climate change, the year 2023 was an “extreme” year, characterized by water shortages in the first months of winter.
The year before it was even more extreme: on October 20, 2022, the level was only 22 centimeters above the hydrometric zero point.
Rain and meltwater have caused the level of Lake Garda to rise by over a meter.
© Fotolicht/Imago
One meter of water level rise in one year – this has never happened before on Lake Garda
A year later, on November 5, 2023, it was already 135 centimeters.
“It has never happened before that Lake Garda recorded a level increase of more than one meter in just over a year,” said the Secretary General of the Garda Community, Pierlucio Ceresa, to
larena.it
.
“If we consider that one centimeter of Lake Garda's water level corresponds to about 3.7 million cubic meters of water, we can calculate that an impressive 418 million cubic meters of water flowed into its basin in just 12 months.” Then the vacation could also be on these five Insider tip places on Lake Garda will be fantastic.