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The extreme heat wave leads to water shortages in the Po Valley. Agriculture in particular is suffering from the worst drought in 70 years. Now water has to be rationed and reservoirs pumped out.
Because of the drought, even the drinking water supply had to be rationed.
AFP
Reservoirs are tapped to support the region. Politicians are now even proposing to pump water out of Lake Garda.
AFP
In northern Italy, the Po Valley suffers from the worst drought in 70 years, some communities rationed water distribution. 125 communities in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions have recently been asked to stop or throttle the drinking water supply to households at night. Now even pumping water from Lake Garda to the north to feed the Po Valley is being considered.
The level of the Po river has dropped to a record low, according to the Coldiretti agricultural association, half of the cultivated land is threatened and a third of the national agricultural production is at risk. In some regions it has not rained for 110 days, the damage already amounts to more than two billion francs, as the “Focus» reported.
«Upstream areas» are supposed to help
The persistent drought is even having devastating effects on the power supply, because most of the dams that generate electricity are in the Alps and Po region, writes the German news magazine. This creates a conflict of interest: While releasing water from the dams will ease the drought in the Po Valley, it could lead to power shortages later in the year.
Regional politicians and heads of authorities have now even made the controversial demand that water be taken from the water, which is extremely popular with tourists Lake Garda to pump out It could be channeled into the Po via the Mincio River, writes the “Focus”. For example, he said the Po river director said it was time that “the upstream areas help to alleviate the problems of the downstream ones”. However, the General Secretary of the Municipalities of Lake Garda rejects this proposal because it would have devastating effects on the lake. Compared to other lakes, the situation in Lake Garda is less precarious, but here too the water level is 46 centimeters lower than last year.
According to scientists, the increase in heat waves and droughts is a direct result of global warming. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the number of severe weather disasters increased fivefold between 1970 and 2019. “Unfortunately, what we see today is a foretaste of the future,” warned an expert from the organization.
Dry riverbed revealed Nazi tanks
Due to the extreme drought, a lost war relic has recently come to light. Residents of the northern Italian town of Sermide saw strange metal parts sticking out of the river basin in March, as the “Focus” reports. This is how they came across a German tank that amateur historians had been looking for for decades. The Nazi tank was sunk in the river by the German Wehrmacht in April 1945 to keep it out of the hands of advancing US troops.
(AFP/fis)