MESSINA. How serious is the water crisis that is gripping Sicily? Very. And The longer it goes on the worse it gets. There is now very little water everywhere on the island, with values even lower than the devastating drought of 2002: it hasn’t rained enough to replenish water reserves for a year now, the indicators point to extreme drought everywhere and the forecasts are not encouraging.
According to Sias, the Sicilian agro-meteorological information service, the June rains did not provide significant water supplies to Sicilysince almost everywhere the water was able to wet only the surface layer of the soil, from which it quickly evaporated. The regional average of monthly precipitation in Sicily was only about 8 mm, even lower than the norm for the period 2003-2022 which is approximately 11 mm.
What does this mean in concrete terms? That at the end of June, the precipitation accumulated in Sicily over the last 12 months, with a regional average of 414 mm, has fallen to the same level that was recorded during the great drought of 2002, when in the same period the regional average accumulation was 413 mm, with deficits that exceed 60% on an annual level.
For Messinawhich also suffers from major structural problems, the situation appears even more complicated than elsewhere: according to Sias, “the deficits in absolute value are worrying, as they remain at extreme and seemingly unlikely levels precisely in areas, such as the eastern sector of Etna, where underground water bodies are fundamental for water supply systems”. Precisely the aquifers that feed the Fiumefreddo aqueduct, the main source of water for the city.
