With no snow in the Alps and no water in Venice, Italy faces a new drought alert

Italy fears another severe drought after weeks of a dry northern winter where the Alps received less than half their normal snowfall and Venice’s canals suffered unusually low tides preventing gondolas, water taxis and ambulances from navigating some of its famous channels.

According to scientists and environmental groups, Italy it could face another drought after last summer’s emergency. In July, Italy declared the state of emergency for the areas surrounding the Po, which accounts for about a third of the country’s agricultural production and suffered its worst drought in 70 years.

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Italian rivers and lakes are experiencing a severe lack of water, the environmental group Legambiente announced on Monday, with attention focused on the north of the country. The Pothe longest river in Italy stretching from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic, has 61% less water than normal for this time of yearhe added in a statement.

“We are in a situation of water deficit that has been accumulating since the winter of 2020-2021,” said the climate expert. Massimiliano Pasqui of the Italian scientific research institute CNR, quoted by the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

“We need to recover 500 millimeters in the north-western regions: we need 50 days of rain”, he added.

The water level of Lake Garda, in northern Italy, has fallen to historic lowswhich has made it possible to reach the small island of San Biagio through an exposed path.

Venice again without water

The problems in Venice are attributed to a combination of factors: the lack of rain, a high pressure system, the full moon and ocean currents.

In the dead of winter, the images of Venice are striking: the internal canals reduced to muddy streets, boats moored, the ancient foundations of buildings visible, even along the Grand Canal.. Venice has been dealing for many days with a low tide, caused by the opposite phenomenon of high tide, which is also beginning to create serious problems for navigability..

Last summer Italy suffered the worst drought in the last 70 years; the waters of Lake Garda had receded leaving the lake without water. (MIGUEL MEDINA – AFP)

The exceptionality of the phenomenon, they explain from the municipal tidal forecast center, is not so much in the subzero measurements of the tide that reaches the lagoon (-60 centimeters in recent days, -56 centimeters today) as in its duration. Low water should continue for the next few days as well, at least through Tuesday.

The city is more used to flooding from high tides than to lack of water. However, this is not the first time it has experienced a significant drop in water levels: in 2018 they reached about 60 centimeters below the normal level, but before, in 2016, the water levels fell by 66 centimeters, while in 1989 and 2008 the levels decreased by 90 centimeters.

other consequences

The lack of rain in some areas of southern Europe is cause for concern for cereal crops ahead of the spring seasonafter they have largely avoided frost damage so far this winter, the European Union’s crop monitoring service said on Monday.

A small boat lies at the bottom of an internal canal at low tide in Venice, Italy. (ANDREA MEROLA – EPA/ANSA).

Europe suffered from a severe drought last summer and dry weather in January is fueling concerns in countries like Italy that water reserves will not recover this year. According to the service MARS of the EU, winter grain and oilseed crops remain in reasonable condition in most of Europeat a time when the cooling of temperatures, after an exceptionally warm turn of the year, has contributed to the robustness of the plants.

But a significant rainfall deficit in some areas of Spain and Italy raised doubts. “The water levels of the reservoirs continue to be worryingly low in central and southern Spain,” said MARS in a monthly report. “In Italy, a strong rainfall deficit is observed in the north-western regions, where soil moisture conditions have not yet recovered from last year’s drought.”.

Source: Elcomercio