Apulian farmers have come from the countryside to chain their tractors in front of the gates of the wells because the water is delivered in fits and starts, often it doesn’t arrive at all and fruit trees, almond trees and olive trees dry out.
The gesture of the Coldiretti farmers was carried out in front of the gates of Pozzo della Parata in Bitonto, tired of experiencing an emergency every year with the supply of water in fits and starts with shifts that are unable to guarantee the correct irrigation of the fields. Same critical situation in Palo del Colle with the Defense Well not working due to electrical problems that inhibit the operation of the pumps. But in Adelfia, Well 4 in the Fieno district and Well 1 in the Brunetta district are closed due to a fault in the electrical panel, Well 5 has a limited water flow due to voltage drops, Well 16 in the Sirenga district has problems to the electrical panel and the water mains, while Well 13 in the Parco dei Prinicipi district has pump problems.
In Terlizzi the well in the Lioy district has been out of use for over a year, while in Putignano the San Pietro Piturno well needs the pumps to be lowered because there has been a significant drop in the water table. Puglia is the region of Italy where it rains the least with an average of 641.5 millimeters per year and serious impacts on agriculture caused by drought and also maintains the negative record of the average annual availability of resources per capita with only 1000 cubic metres, less than half of the national average annual per capita availability estimated at 2330 cubic meters. On the other hand, 89% of rainwater is lost every year. The fields and stables are caught in the grip of the drought emergency, reports Coldiretti Puglia which has asked the Prefects of Puglia for a permanent regional table for the irrigation and drought emergency which will address without delay all the issues affecting ARIF and the consortia of cleaning up police stations.
