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HEATWAVE

Italy to declare drought state of emergency as regions restrict water use

With the Italian government set to declare a state of emergency in up to five regions amid the worst drought in 70 years, many areas are imposing their own varying restrictions in the meantime.

Published: 22 June 2022 16:10 CEST
Italy to declare drought state of emergency as regions restrict water use
A man waters plants using a bottle of mineral water in Baveno, northwest of Milan, after water usage was limited in the area on June 17th, 2022. Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

The government is expected to announce a state of emergency following requests from the northern regions of Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, junior health minister Andrea Costa said on Tuesday.

“The conditions necessary to declare a state of emergency have been met,” Costa told SkyTG24.

“We have to support the agriculture sector, which is not just about what it produces, it is also vital for our country due to the way it maintains the land”.

A drought alert has spread from the Po valley, where waters are three quarters down amid the worst drought in 70 years, to central rivers like the Arno, the Aniene and the Tiber, which have half the water they normally do at this time of the year, officials said last week.

Drought in Italy: What water use restrictions are in place and where?

The drought is putting over 30 percent of national agricultural production and half of livestock farming in the Po valley at risk, said Italian agricultural association Coldiretti on Thursday.

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.

The declaration of a state of emergency would give hard-hit areas the green light to impose water usage restrictions, and to claim funding from the national government to compensate businesses for financial losses due to the drought.

READ ALSO: How the climate crisis is hitting Europe hard

But while regional authorities wait for an announcement from the government, many have started imposing their own localised limits on water usage.

The government of Lazio, the region around Rome, said on Monday it was independently declaring a “state of calamity”.

Water rationing has begun in several comuni (municipalities) around Lake Bracciano, while Rome’s city water board has begun to lower the pressure in the pipes in order to reduce the water supply without having to suspend it.

Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna are each evaluating region-wide water rationing measures including, for example, bans on filling swimming pools.

Limits are meanwhile being brought in at local level in individual municipalities within these regions.

Local authorities including in Baveno, northwest of Milan, have cut the water supply to fountains. Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

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

Some towns in the Po valley area are having to have water brought in by trucks.

Many of these areas have now been without any rain at all for more than 110 days, according to the Po River observatory.

Arid conditions are only expected to worsen in the coming days, with Italy currently in the grip of an intense heatwave bringing temperatures across northern regions into the mid-high 30s.

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ENVIRONMENT

OPINION: Why Italy lags behind Europe on green policies – and things aren’t changing

With climate protests by young Italians and talk of clean energy policy, will Italy finally change its ways and catch up with other European countries? Silvia Marchetti argues a much bigger cultural shift is needed before Italy could truly go green.

Published: 16 May 2024 10:50 CEST
OPINION: Why Italy lags behind Europe on green policies - and things aren't changing

There’s a lot of talk about environmental-friendly practices and spreading awareness on climate change, but I must admit Italians are perhaps the least eco-conscious of all Europeans. 

We struggle to keep up with the rest of Europe. From buying more bottled water than almost any other country to repeatedly delaying a ‘plastic tax’ and dumping on beaches and in parks, it’s part of a general cultural attitude which has very little ‘green’ in it, even though the pandemic and soaring energy costs have pushed a minority of Italians to become perhaps a bit more careful. 

Too many Italians just have that ‘che me ne frega’ approach (meaning ‘I really don’t care’), which gets on my nerves and is quite ingrained in the general mentality. 

When I used to live in Holland back in 2002, there were drinking water fountains everywhere, people filled their own portable insulated bottles which were not made of plastic, and which seemed to me so cool and fashionable.

While in Rome we have the famous fontanoni (historical water spouts), locals either use their hands to drink, or still buy glass and plastic cups and bottles to fill and then throw away. 

When it comes to recycling waste, only half of Italy does it properly, while the Baltic countries are the most efficient waste-wise among the 27 members of the European Union. 

I live north of Rome, in the countryside, and differentiated waste disposal services arrived in my comune just six years ago, while at my seaside house south of the capital, this happened only last year. In Rotterdam, where I lived during university, citizens had been recycling waste since at least a decade earlier. 

READ ALSO: Why Trento is ranked as Italy’s ‘greenest’ place to live

Some 25 years ago, when I was in Geneva, people walking their dogs would scoop up their pets’ poo with recyclable gloves and place it in neat plastic bags; that’s something you’d see hardly anyone do even nowadays in Italy.

I’m at times ashamed of saying so, but we have really bad habits – like keeping the tap water running even when you don’t need it, such as during one-hour showers or while brushing teeth, turning the lights on at night in the garden when everyone is at home and no guests are expected, and buying endless motorini (scooters) for the kids and then one car per adult family member.

The Italian love of cars results in heavy traffic and dangerous levels of pollution – but will this ever change? (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

I think this is all due to the fact that most Italians are very showy, even in energy consumption. Keeping house lights or car usage down to a minimum would imply to neighbors a state of precarious wealth, if not almost poverty. 

There’s another factor that plays a major role. Italy, as opposed to other European countries, has always heavily relied on gas and oil consumption, not on alternative green energy that still sounds quite futuristic. This dependency on fossil fuels will likely lead to our demise if we don’t act.

READ ALSO: Italians and their cars are inseparable – will this ever change?

The post-pandemic funds given by the European Union should boost investments in alternative and green energy, but the effects will only be seen in the long run.

In order to have a positive impact, the money must be efficiently spent. Almost 37 percent of a total €191 billion of European aid is expected to go into funding green investments in Italy over the next few years. 

But it all reads very vague at the moment, and I’m afraid the Italian approach might change only slightly, no matter the ambitious government plans. It’s more wishful thinking. 

In the rest of Europe children are taught about climate change and how to adopt good practices in everyday life. I have friends in Belgium whose kids read about recycling plastic and reducing weekly the number of plastic water bottles they buy.

READ ALSO: What is it with Italians and bottled water?

In order to have a radical change in Italians’ attitudes, environmental awareness must be spread inside schools and among children. It really depends on the future generations.

The younger generations, born in an era already marred by environmental damage, are the only ones in Italy who can really ‘go green’ in everything they do and consume.

Recent protests by student climate change activists in Italy, even if small compared to those staged across Europe, are a sign of a changing mentality among youth.

But in order to further spread awareness, a more pro-environmental education is paramount.

Unfortunately though, there is no political debate around improving education on environmental issues in Italy, mainly due to a lack of political wisdom or forward-looking strategy.

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