What is the current state of water resources in Italy? The answer in the Anbi weekly observatory of 11 June 2024
After a winter with little snow in the Apennines and a spring with little rain, the symptoms of this serious trend are evident especially in Abruzzo: from the Teatro hills to the Pescara coast, from Val Pescara to the border with Marche, rainfall in the hydrological year is at its lowest; the exceptions are the Fucino plain and the Vasto coast, where rainfall remained average. In the month of May the coastal hilly area, especially the central-southern one, recorded a rainfall deficit of up to -87.7% on the Pescara coast while, paradoxically, the rainfall was higher than average (+93%) in the areas mountains in the province of L’Aquila (source: Abruzzo Region). The continuation of this “leopard patch” hydrological situation since the summer of 2023 means that even areas where there has never been a shortage of water are now faced with rationing and limitations: in the Peligna Valley, a water-rich area, the interruption of supplies for 3 days a week is being tested for the first time, allowing the irrigation tank (“Sulmona”, which serves half the valley) to fill up, despite the low flow rate of the Gizio river; should temperatures remain higher than average and rainfall should be lacking, this measure will have to be extended to another 13 basins in the district with serious repercussions on agricultural production in the area. An example of the gravity of the situation, which is taking shape, is the state of the Penne basin, which at the end of May was only filled to 33% of its capacity, recording a water level that was more than 10 meters lower than last year and dropped by a further meter in the first 12 days of June; normally in this period, thanks to the melting of the snow and the May rains, the reservoir contains volumes equal to approximately 8 million cubic metres, while currently it is below 3 million. In the absence of significant rainfall, there will be no water for the countryside already in July!
“The repetition of a strong water differentiation between areas of the same region as a consequence of an increasing localization of weather events highlights the need not only for a greater number of reservoirs to collect water when it is available, but for infrastructures capable of moving water resources from one territory to another” indicate Francesco Vincenzi, President of the National Association of Consortia for the Management and Protection of the Territory and Irrigation Waters (ANBI).
“We must urgently initiate interventions to adapt territories to the consequences of the climate crisis. It is necessary, for example, to start financing the Reservoir Plan and to concretely follow up on the provisions of the National Plan for Infrastructure Interventions and for the Safety of the Water Sector, speeding up the bureaucratic processes, while fully respecting the regulations: 11 years on average to carry out a public work, of which 8 for formal procedures, is an unsustainable time in the face of the consequences of the climate crisis” he adds Massimo Gargano, General Director of ANBI.
Anbi observatory on water resources
Having established the water emergency in the southern and island regions, there is an alarming similarity between what is being recorded in central Italy and what happened in 2021, when a period of dramatic suffering began in late spring for the Adriatic regions from the Rhine river to Puglia, forcing the suspension of the irrigation service: this is reported in the weekly report of theANBI Observatory on Water Resources.
Let’s see the situation region by region in detail in the weekly reportANBI Observatory on Water Resources of 11 June 2024
In Marche, this year’s irrigation season will only be guaranteed thanks to the almost 52 million cubic meters of water still retained by regional dams. What is worrying is the condition of extreme drought (as classified by Amap – Agenzia Marche Agricoltura Pesca), in which, after more than a year of little rainfall, some coastal municipalities in Pesaro and the southern territories on the border with Abruzzo find themselves: since January 2023 , at a regional level, more than 170 millimeters of rain are missing, bringing the water balance of the Marche rivers closer to that of the “annus horribilis” 2021.
Critical issues are also emerging in the other central regions, which raise fears for water availability in view of the warmer season.
In the Lazio the river flows are affected by the lack of contributions generated by the melting of the snow at high altitude (in the Tiber basin: -30% in spring, -76% in winter. Source: District Basin Authority of the Central Apennines) and by the rainfall deficit (at Rome in 2024 rained 16% less than the average of the recent decade, even recording, at a regional level, -50% in April, a fundamental month for recharging aquifers); the flow in the Tiber riverbed in the center of Rome is 50% of normal. Things are no better for the Aniene, which is at 43% of the average flow rate; Velino also performed badly in the Rieti area, recording a flow rate of 25.75 cubic meters per second against the historical average of 34.50 m3/s.
The condition of the Lazio lakes remains dramatic on the eve of summer. Proof of this are the pylons over 7 meters high on the beaches of the basin in Castelgandolfo (now being demolished) and which during the 1960 Olympics served as platforms for water sports and therefore barely emerged from the water! An equally sensational water drop affects the nearby Lake Nemi which in just three years has undergone a drop in level of 1.77 metres, accentuating the phenomena of bank erosion. The height of Lake Bracciano also continues to decrease, falling below the “psychological threshold” of -100 centimeters of hydrometric level (source: Bracciano Smart Lake). Reassuring news comes, however, from the Elvella basin, on the border with Tuscany, whose level is similar to that of last year.
On the same line as the Lazio lakes is Trasimeno, which has been constantly decreasing for over a year and whose current height is lower than that recorded on 1 August 2023 (-1.34 m versus -1.27 m). . Also Umbria suffers from the lack of rainfall, which in the month of May was more than 25% lower than the average (with peaks of -68% in the Norcia area), marking a deficit greater than that recorded so far in the rest of the current hydrological year and which stands at around 20%; a further contraction is evident in the flows of the Chiascio, Paglia and Topino rivers.
Among the central regions, the best condition is that of Tuscanywhere however the flows of the Arno, Ombrone and Serchio rivers fell below average.
While the alarm for the central regions is growing, the water situation in Southern Italy remains dramatic.
The absolute protagonist remains Sicily struggling with increasing water rationing. Although May was rainier than usual (+177%, i.e. 47 mm against an average of 17 mm), from 1 September 2023 the rainfall deficit reached around 300 mm, while 453 mm of water fell on the Island in the past 12 months, are slightly higher than the “cumulative” recorded during the great drought of 2022; the case of Catania is evident, where in 12 months 240 millimeters of rain fell, corresponding to 40% of the norm and aligning the city with the levels of some arid areas of Morocco or Libya! The situation in the Etna area is also emblematic, where it normally rains a lot, but which has seen a lack of 1145 millimeters of rain (in Linguaglossa) for a year (source: SIAS-Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service). The Sicilian basins now retain less than 300 million cubic meters of water.
In Basilicata, in just one week of great heat, the reservoirs dropped by over 10 million cubic meters, raising the deficit for 2023 to almost million. mc.171.
A similar condition is recorded in Pugliawhere the basins release 1 million cubic meters of water per day and are now missing over 154 compared to 2023.
Also there Campania appears “hydrically zoned”: in the upper valley of the Sele river there is a surplus of spring volume of the Sanità spring equal to millions. mc. 1.72 while the Cassano Irpino spring group records a deficit of million. mc. 3.36.
The water situation also remains precarious Sardinia, where the Posada farms will be supplied with water via tankers, as the Maccheronis reservoir only holds millions. mc. 7.68 (last year there were 23.23 million m3) which, without significant rainfall, will have to be enough for the entire summer.
Going up the Peninsula, northern Italy seems to belong to another hemisphere.
The Great Lakes are almost all near or above 100% full (greater than 104%).
In Valle d’Aosta, in some stations above m. 2500, there are still up to 2 and a half meters of snow; the melting of the mantle at lower altitudes has greatly increased the flow of the rivers and so the Dora Baltea reached the remarkable flow rate of 140.80 m3/s and the Lys torrent also rose to 24.40 m3/s.
In the end, in Liguria, only the level of the Entella river is rising, while those of Vara, Magra and Argentina are falling.
In Piedmontin the last week there was a further increase in flows in the waterways and so the Toce now has a flow rate of almost +64% on the average, the Stura di Demonte records +56%, Stura di Lanzo is at +32, 6%.
In Lombardy, the Adda river, thanks to the important flows provided by Lake Como, saw the flow increase by a further 36% in 7 days, reaching 441 m3/s; in June, the quantity of snow present on the peaks is still abundant (Snow Water Equivalent index: 1604.8 million m3, i.e. +95.7% compared to the average).
In Veneto, after last week’s exploits, river flows are decreasing, while maintaining values significantly higher than the monthly averages (Adige +86%, Brenta +52%, Bacchiglione +58%). In the region, rainfall contributions since October have been above the average by 56% and are estimated at 20,620 million cubic metres. May 2024 was the wettest of the past 20 years (274 mm, +134% on average). Seasonal snow was above average in the Dolomites, while less in the Pre-Alps. The main reservoirs of the Piave basin hold volumes equal to approximately 149 million cubic metres, corresponding to a filling of 89%, while the Corlo reservoir, in the Brenta basin, is at 97% of capacity. The groundwater levels are higher than historical averages, except for the upper Veronese plain, where the trend is growing and the values are returning to the average after months (source ARPAV).
In Emilia Romagna the hydrological year is proving to be particularly generous with rainfall, in particular in the western area of the region, where the cumulative rainfall is higher than average, even to a significant extent: in the mountain basins, between the Parma and Trebbia rivers, 1550 mm .7 of rain, which has fallen so far, represents the third best result in 60 years. Also benefiting from this are the Piacenza dams of Molato (99.4% full) and Mignano (96.4%), which overall retain over 17 million cubic meters of water. On the contrary, the mountain and plain basins of Romagna south of the Reno river record one of the most marked rainfall deficits (the fifth) in the recent thirty years. This week the Apennine rivers all have decreasing flows with the easternmost basins of Reno and Santerno below average and the Secchia even falling below the historical monthly lows.
L’Groundwater Observatory ANBI-CER Campus (Emiliano Romagnolo Canal) confirms that the rains have allowed the overall recharge of the aquifers and the deficit accumulated compared to 2022, the driest year ever, is finally compensated in almost all the regional provinces, even if in Romagna there are still evident anomalies in some areas (Download the groundwater observatory here). In this case in the province of Forli-Cesena, where the levels of water scarcity recorded today are even lower than in the driest year ever (-2.47 meters in 2024 versus -2.28 meters in 2022). See the comparisons between the layers here.
