June 17, 2024, 11:59 am
2 min read
ROME – The Italian drought has reached “worrying levels” so much so that it has been recorded in 2022 a loss of 51.5% of renewable water resources compared to the historical average since 1950. The situation is photographed by the Water Value for Italy Community of The European House – Ambrosetti.
Drought, the Ambrosetti report
And in 2023, rising temperatures and the effects of human action have generated new pressure on water resources. There are already twelve regions with high water stress – with the South at the top – and this is set to increase. Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, Puglia are the most exposed of allfollowed in order by Campania, Lazio, Marche and Umbria, Tuscany, Molise, Sardinia and Abruzzo.
The experts – reports the Water Value Community – estimate that by 2030 water stress will further intensify in some Italian regions, with an increase of 8.7% in Liguria, 6.1% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and 5.7% in Marche. At a European level, the peninsula ranks fourth in the EU for water stress, with an index of 3.3 out of 5. Only Belgium (4.4), Greece (4.3) and Spain (3.9) present worse values.
The sectors affected
Two sectors in particular are most affected by global warming and from drought: agriculture and hydroelectricity. Italian agriculture, the analysis highlights, is facing a growing water scarcity which puts food production and the sustainability of agricultural activities at risk. Honey production fell by 70%, pears by 63% and cherries by 60%.
Hydroelectric power is suffering due to the reduction of water resources, compromising the country’s ability to meet energy demand through clean sources. 2022 was a black year. Total precipitation has drastically decreased, and the snowpack recorded a 60% deficit compared to the average for the decade 2010-2021. Due to high temperatures, only 13.5% of rainfall contributed to aquifer recharge.
Water consumption
This phenomenon is of further concern, as it is expected that the renewable water resource will further reduce by 40% by 2100, with peaks of reduction of 90% in southern Italy. The amount of water lost in 2022 – notes the Community White Paper Water Value – is equal to that needed to irrigate approximately 641,000 hectares of land, an area corresponding to the entire agricultural surface of Lazio. Furthermore, is equivalent to the water consumed annually by over 14 million people, that is, the inhabitants of Lombardy and Piedmont, and the quantity used by the production of 82,000 manufacturing companies, the industrial fabric of regions such as Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna.
“The water situation in Italy – explains Valerio De Molli, managing partner and CEO of The European House – Ambrosetti – requires immediate and concerted action. A concrete commitment from all the actors involved is necessary” ed “It is important to modernize and make our water infrastructure more efficientto optimize the collection and storage of water, activating 20% of the potentially exploitable volumes already present in large Italian dams”.
Drought, updates
Published on
June 17, 2024, 11:59 am
