Dry reservoirs in Puglia where 139 million cubic meters of water are missing, while water supply in the province of Taranto is in fits and starts with dry fields and crops at risk from fruit to vegetables to arable land. This is what Coldiretti Puglia reports, which highlights the effects of the lack of water on agricultural production, but also on livestock farming with serious inefficiencies that farmers face by resorting to tankers with a significant increase in costs.
“We can no longer count the reports we are making every day so that the water arrives and at the right time. 1000 liters of water should be supplied every day from the San Giuliano reservoir in Basilicata, which often does not arrive at all and the supply either appears in fits and starts or is not activated at all”, denounces the president of Coldiretti Puglia, Alfonso Cavallo, underlining that “In the fields there is a prolonged drought which has already manifested itself since last winter and there has been no planning on the part of the Reclamation Consortium. So the fields dry out and the crops die, the planning of water supply must necessarily be reviewed by the Consortium”, adds President Cavallo.
But Coldiretti Puglia returns to denounce the water crisis scenario caused by the drought, also due to the condition of the malfunctioning and faulty wells or half service due to the lack of personnel, for which it urges ARIF to immediately restore the functioning of the artesian wells in the countryside of Noci, in Toritto and Palo del Colle.
“We need a different planning of the ‘water asset’ because 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 incomes and must be addressed with the utmost attention and efficiency”, declares the regional director Pietro Piccioni underlining that “an infrastructure plan is necessary for the creation of small reservoirs that collect all the rainwater that is lost and distribute it when there is little of it for the purposes of water, irrigation and environmental regulation”.
In Puglia the areas at risk of desertification are equal to 57% of the regional territory – adds Coldiretti Puglia – due to the persistent and frequent drought phenomena, where 89% of the rain that falls is lost due to infrastructure deficiencies and sieve networks. An unacceptable waste for a precious asset also in light of climate changes which – Coldiretti continues – are profoundly modifying the distribution and intensity of rainfall even on the national territory.
What is needed – Coldiretti claims – are maintenance, saving, recovery and recycling of water interventions, information and education campaigns on the correct use of water and an infrastructure plan for the creation of reservoirs that collect all the rainwater that is lost and let them distribute it when there is little of it. Farmers – concludes Coldiretti – are doing their part with a commitment to the diffusion of low-consumption irrigation systems, but also research and innovation for the development of crops with low water requirements.
