While the water crisis persists in Sicily which in recent months has pushed the government to declare a state of emergency and to approve a water rationing plan which almost involves 1 million peoplethat is, about a fifth of the Sicilian populationwater remains a complex and multifaceted issue that is usually addressed, by politics and the media, from emergency to emergency.
Let us then try to take stock of the water situation in Italy, including withdrawals, losses and waste water purification activities, with the help of the data provided by the latest Istat report, published last March and relating to the years 2020-2023.
The water withdrawn
9.14 billion of cubic meters In 2022 the daily withdrawal of water for drinking use in Italy was equal to 9.14 billion cubic metres, used to ensure the daily water uses of the population, but also of small businesses, hotels, services, commercial, productive, agricultural and industrial activities connected directly to the urban network, as well as public requests , such as schools, public offices, hospitals and fountains.
424 litres Also in 2022, the daily withdrawal of water in cubic meters was 25 million, of which 424 liters per inhabitant, made possible by approximately 37,400 active supply sources for drinking water uses present in the territory, a dense network covering on average 100 square kilometers for every 12 supply points.
155 cubic meters With 155 cubic meters per year per inhabitant Italy is third among the EU countries in the European Union for water withdrawals: first only Ireland (200) and Greece (159), followed, at a clear distance, by Bulgaria (118) and Croatia (111).
9,142 million cubic meters Although the volume withdrawn decreased by 0.5% compared to 2020, for over twenty years Italy has reconfirmed itself first place in the European Union for quantityin absolute value, of fresh water withdrawn for drinking use from surface water bodies – which include artificial reservoirs, surface watercourses and natural lakes – and underground, therefore excluding withdrawals from marine waters. In 2022, the greatest withdrawal of water for drinking use was recorded in the hydrographic district of the Po river with 2.80 billion cubic metres, 30.7% of the national total, followed by the hydrographic district of the southern Apennines with 2.32 billions of cubic meters of water for drinking use, 25.4% of the national volume.
84.7% The underground sources they are the prevalent supply method in Italy, with shares exceeding 75% in all hydrographic districts, with the exception of Sardinia where the exploitation of springs and wells accounts for approximately 21% of the withdrawal. In 2022, 84.7% of the withdrawal comes from groundwater, with 48.5% from wells and 36.2% from sources, and only 15.2% from surface water. The use of underground sources is predominant in the Central Apennines and Eastern Alps districts, where it represents over 94% of the withdrawal.
0.1% To make up for water shortages, a small part of the withdrawal is derived from marine or brackish waters0.1% of the total, concentrated mainly in Sicily to supply the smaller islands, and to a small extent also in Tuscany and Lazio.
Year 2022 or latest available, cubic meters per year per inhabitant
Source and graphic processing: Istat, Census of water for civil use
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The losses
157 litres The image of theSieve Italy, rich in water but with inadequate water infrastructure, continues to be a reality, despite, they write in the report: “In recent years many water service managers have launched initiatives to guarantee a greater capacity for measuring consumption and the containment of losses of network”. The quantity of water dispersed in distribution can in fact be quantified as 157 liters per day per inhabitant.
To better understand the phenomenon, Istat provides another data: estimating a per capita consumption equal to the national average, the volume of water dispersed in 2022 would satisfy the water needs of 43.4 million people for an entire year, which corresponds to approximately 75% of the Italian population.
65.5% The problem is quite common, with the necessary differences: iIn nine regions the total water losses in distribution are higher than the national figure, recording the highest data, the Basilicata with 65.5%, Abruzzo with 62.5% and Molise with 53.9%, but also Sardinia with 52.8% and Sicily with 51.6% of water losses in distribution. On the other hand, all the Northern regions have a lower level of losses: in the autonomous province of Bolzano/Bozen it reaches 28.8%, in Emilia-Romagna at 29.7% and in Valle d’Aosta/Vallée d’Aoste at 29.8%.
Furthermore, the trend for many parts of Italy is not positive: in 13 out of 21 regions and autonomous provinces and in three out of seven hydrographic districts, total water losses in distribution are increasing.
1 in 3 In more than one in three capitals they are registered total losses in distribution exceeding 45%. The conditions of maximum criticality, with values equal to at least 65%, are in Potenza (71.0%), Chieti (70.4%) and L’Aquila (68.9%). A more favorable infrastructural situation, with losses of less than 25%, occurs in approximately one in four capital cities.
But why do these losses occur?
Faced with these numbers, one wonders what the reasons behind such a considerable waste of a vital resource are, especially in a context such as that of the climate crisis. The total network losses are attributable, explains Istat, to various factors:
- those he defines “physiological”, i.e. present in all water infrastructures as there would be no zero loss system
- breakages in the pipes and aging of the systems
- administrative factors, due to meter measurement errors and unauthorized uses, such as unauthorized connections
“It must be considered – specifies Istat – that the variations detected may depend not only on the state of the networks, but also by variations in the methods of calculating the volumes consumed but not measured at the meter, by the growing diffusion of measuring instrumentswhich are more effective in highlighting critical situations, from contingent situations and management changes that can modify the volume accounting system”.
On the other hand, where a reduction in losses is recorded it is mainly due to the reorganization activities of the distribution network in homogeneous micro-areas, the hydrographic districts in the so-called districtingwhich made it possible to reduce operating pressures and detect hidden leaks: among these also Rome and Como.
Read also: Drought? “There is water, but in Italy water networks are the Cinderellas of infrastructure”
Purified water
18,042 In 2020, 18,042 were active on the national territory urban wastewater purification plants: 56.3% consists of Imhoff tanks and primary type systems, 32.5% of systems with secondary type treatment and 11.1% of advanced type. These plants have been designed to treat a total maximum load of biodegradable organic pollutants equal to 107 million equivalent inhabitants. However, the actual average polluting load flowing into the plants corresponds to approximately 67 million total population equivalents, of which 29.2% is purified with secondary type treatment and 65.2% with advanced type.
6.7 billion cubic meters The total volume of wastewater flowing into all operating purification plants is equal to 6.7 billion cubic metres. But if the drinking water supplied to end users and discharged, in most cases, into the public sewer system is 4.7 billion cubic metres, how is it possible that the value of waste water is significantly greater? This is because part of the waste also flows into the municipal sewer system industrial wasteseveral rivers buried in urban areas and the parasitic watersi.e. those infiltrations to waste water, which can come from surface water, groundwater, unauthorized discharges or leaks from aqueducts.
70% 70% of the volume flowing into the purification plants, corresponding overall to 4.7 billion cubic meters (just under the volume of Lake Bracciano), undergoes a advanced treatment, producing waste water with a better level of quality than other types of treatment, for the greater reduction of polluting loads. This volume could therefore be reused for irrigation and industrial uses. According to the new EU regulation on wastewater management and treatment – approved by Parliament on 10 April and awaiting formal approval from the Council –, by 2045, the treatment quaternary, capable of eliminating a broad spectrum of micropollutants, it will be mandatory for all installations exceeding 150 thousand population equivalents, but also over 10 thousand population equivalents based on a risk assessment.
27% The advanced plants in the Lombardy region alone treat 27% of the total volume of water, i.e. 1.3 billion cubic metres. All the other regions contribute with quantities lower than 12%: Lazio with 11% and 529 million cubic meters, and Piedmont with 10% and 476 million cubic meters. On the other hand, Lombardy has the largest number of purifiers with advanced treatment: 19% of the total.
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