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Northern Italy is suffering from extreme drought with historically low lake and river levels. Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna are particularly affected. According to the Italian farmers' association Confagricoltura, the damage to agriculture already amounts to two billion euros. The Secretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Gianmarco Centinaio, announced a decree to save agriculture. The situation is serious. The Italian regions are therefore calling for a national state of emergency and are waiting for quick help from the government. The first regions have already decided on rationing, many municipalities have banned the use of water at night. Emilia-Romagna declared a state of emergency on 21 June.
The Po Valley in particular is suffering from extreme water shortages because there has been no snow this winter. The low level of Italy's largest river is particularly problematic because salt water from the sea now flows some 21 kilometres inland. In order to come to the farmers' aid, applications have been made to increase the discharge from Lake Garda, first by ten and then by 30 cubic metres per second. With its 50 cubic kilometres of capacity, Lake Garda is the largest water reservoir in northern Italy. Since Lake Garda is relatively well filled compared to Lake Como and Lake Maggiore, at around 60 percent, the experts consider opening the locks to be perfectly justifiable. But the communities on Lake Garda are sounding the alarm and fear that after the Po, the lake will soon use up its reserves. The electricity suppliers Enel, Edison and A2A have shown solidarity with the farmers by agreeing to release a total of five million cubic metres from their reservoirs in the coming days.
Winegrowers in northern Italy also fear for their harvest. Moscato winemaker Francesco Bocchino (Tojo Winery) from Piedmont expresses concern: "Our vines are suffering a lot from drought stress, especially those facing south. All the water reserves have been used up, the wells have dried up, the rivers are at a very low level. Although there was a little rain today, if there is no significant rainfall in the coming weeks, I see black for this year."
Lambrusco winemaker Silvia Zucchi from San Prospero near Modena is also in despair. Her newly planted vineyards are on the verge of collapse. "We specially installed a very expensive irrigation system, but now we have been forbidden by the regional government to irrigate the vines. It is a financial disaster for us."
Farmers are left with only the hope of rain, but weather forecasts for the coming days promise heat records for northern and central Italy.
(ru / Sources: Il Sole24ore; Frankfurter Rundschau, own research; photo: 123rf.com)