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CLIMATE CRISIS

Italy’s Po Valley rations water amid worst drought in 70 years

Four northern Italian regions are preparing to declare a state of emergency over a major drought threatening crops and forcing towns in the Po Valley to ration water.

Published: 17 June 2022 09:44 CEST
A view shows the dessicated bed of the river Po in Boretto, northeast of Parma, on June 15, 2022.
The dessicated bed of the river Po in Boretto, northeast of Parma, on June 15th, 2022. Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP.

Regional president Attilio Fontana told reporters on Thursday the situation was “extremely delicate” in the valley, which stretches across the north and houses a crucial agricultural sector.

Fontana said the drought was the worst in 70 years and that a state of emergency was likely to be declared for Lombardy, home to Milan, as well as three neighbouring regions: Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia Romagna.

The Po River is Italy’s largest reservoir of fresh water and much of it is used by farmers.

Some areas have now been without rain for over 110 days, according to the Po River observatory.

With no rain forecast, councils have begun installing water tankers and imposing hosepipe pans.

READ ALSO: How the climate crisis is hitting Europe hard

Utilitalia, a federation of water companies, has asked mayors in 100 towns in Piedmont and 25 in Lombardy to suspend nighttime drinking water supplies to replenish reservoir levels.

The drought is putting over 30 percent of national agricultural production and half of livestock farming in the valley at risk, Italy’s largest agricultural association, Coldiretti, said Thursday.

The low level of the Po is also leading to salt seawater infiltration into low-lying agricultural areas, compounding farmers’ problems, it said.

Boats lie on a dessicated bank of the river Po in Boretto, northeast of Parma, on June 15th, 2022. Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

The report says that more than a quarter (28 percent) of Italian national territory is at risk of desertification, both in southern and northern regions.

Lake Maggiore and Lake Como in the north are also at worrying low levels – 22.7 percent and 30.6 percent respectively.

The problem in the Po Valley is worsened by the fact that the snow on the Lombard and Piedmontese Alps has completely run out, and it’s feared that the melting glaciers and mountain springs which helped alleviate the problem in May could also dry up in the coming months.

READ ALSO: Nine in 10 Italians ‘want more action on climate crisis’, new study finds

It’s “perfect storm, a year like this has never been seen before,” Meuccio Berselli, secretary general of the Po River District Authority, told the Ansa news agency.

“The snow on the Alps has completely disappeared, glaciers in a state of exhaustion, temperatures higher than average, scarce rains, hot winds that dry the soils … The Po has not had such a low flow rate for 70 years, but the truth is that we will see it even lower”.

Temperatures in the area are forecast to reach up to 30C over the weekend and up to 35C into next week.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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