Press note regional councilor Antonio Paolo SCALERA (Puglia Tomorrow) vice president of Commission V
“This morning I sent to the President of the IV Council Commission of the Puglia Region, of which I am also a member, a request for an urgent hearing on the serious water crisis in Puglia and in the Taranto countryside and on the critical situation of the reservoirs of the Central-South Puglia Reclamation Consortium. In our region – declared the Vice President of the Fifth Council Commission, Councilor Scalera – “the water level in the reservoirs, lakes and artificial dams essential for irrigation in agriculture continues to fall.
The situation in our region is particularly critical with a loss of 107 million cubic meters of water in the reservoirs compared to the previous year, as is the situation relating to the availability of water that the consortia can make available to farmers. Irrigation management, especially in this period in which crops need water to grow, is a fundamental factor for agriculture and animal husbandry, for the protection of production and income.
Tarantine agriculture has already suffered serious damage to the production of clementines which ended up being pulped, compromised precisely by the lack of water. Today, however, cereal and legume crops are at great risk, while olive trees are in perpetual vegetation. The water crisis has also led to a drastic drop in green fodder in pastures, worsening the costs of purchasing feed to ensure animal nutrition. Since January 2024, with the birth of the Central South Puglia Reclamation Consortium in the Taranto area, maintenance work has no longer been carried out on the reclamation canals and to date it is not known what the programming of the irrigation season will be given that the reservoir of the San Giuliano dam it is in very poor condition due to the lack of water due to drought.
For these reasons – concluded Councilor Scalera – what measures do the Councilor for Agriculture and the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Central South Puglia Reclamation Consortium intend to adopt or have already adopted to deal with the serious water crisis”.
