Italy grants water rationing powers to 40 mayors to tackle summer drought

Rome (IANS) Italy has authorised 40 northern towns to ration water supplies as Europe prepares for a second consecutive year of severe drought.

The European Drought Observatory has reported dangerously dry conditions this month across most of Europe's western Mediterranean coast, northern Italy, France, and into Spain and Portugal, reports Xinhua news agency.

Parts of Britain, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland have also suffered from unusually dry weather over the last year.

However, Italy has been hit hardest after suffering Europe's most severe drought last summer. The unusually hot and dry conditions in 2022 slashed Italy's agricultural production by as much as a third, and left water stores unusually low. Despite a few bouts of heavy rainfall, water levels were not replenished over the winter, leaving the northern part of the country vulnerable to another dry summer.

Italian Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto met with the mayors of 40 towns in the northern Italian region of Piedmont on Friday, and gave them the power to ration water supplies depending on the local situation.

Most of the towns are clustered in the area of Piedmont, which includes the provinces of Novara and Verbana Cusio Ossola.

However the water rationing plans will not impact essential use, according to Piedmont's executive councilor Matteo Marnati.

"The limitations do not regard use in the home, but rather water used in gardens, to fill swimming pools, and for other non-priority purposes," Marnati said.

Several areas in northern Italy -- including the country's financial capital of Milan -- carried out rationing initiatives during the driest parts of the summer of 2022.

Though temperatures have not reached the record highs reported last year, the ongoing shortage is problematic, since spring used to be when rainfall and snowfall traditionally help compensate for dry weather in previous months.

On Thursday, the Po River District Authority said that Italy's longest river is suffering from an "extreme drought" in all of its monitoring points.

Italy's major lakes are also reportedly under stress: Lake Garda is only 37 per cent full, its lowest level since at least 1953.

Meanwhile, Lake Maggiore is 44 per cent full, and Lake Como just 24 per cent full.

More unusual steps have also been taken in other European countries such as France, Spain and Switzerland.

Last year's European drought comes on the heels of significant but less severe droughts in 2018, 2019 and 2020.