Drought in Italy: When the gravel banks in the Po Delta shine

It has not rained extensively in northern Italy since November. At times, the Po River carried less water than ever before. Cultivated areas are therefore being abandoned – and the regions are fighting over water.

The Po Delta is actually one of the most water-rich and fertile areas in Europe and is known for rice cultivation. But last winter it rained so little that gravel banks now characterize the river picture. Many paddy fields, which are connected with an ingenious canal system, are dry.

Italy is the largest rice producer in Europe. The problem is not only the lack of water from above, but also the slowly rising sea level: If the Po has too little water, seawater forces its way into the delta and the river water becomes salty.

All farmers in the delta now have a device in their trunk that can be used to measure the salt content of the water. If it is above a certain threshold, the farmers close the inflows. They had to give up many hectares of fields along the coast because they were too salty.

Wrested from the sea

In the Po Delta, the climate effects of drought and rising sea levels have a particularly strong impact because the country is four meters below sea level here. In the 17th century, the Venetians had begun to wrest the marshland from the sea and develop it. Over the years the land sank. Large dykes protect the fields, pumping stations ensure drainage.

Today the landscape seems almost sterile and technically. Now the sea is coming back and saving the fields will be an immense technological challenge.

Higher barriers required

Saltwater barriers that are already installed in the river must be raised. The country also needs a total of 10,000 freshwater catchment basins, according to the Italian water users’ association ANBI calculated.

According to the forecast, the amount of precipitation in Italy will remain constant, but extreme weather phenomena will increase: In future, rain will fall within a shorter period of time and over a smaller area.

This makes the use of rainwater increasingly difficult. According to ANBI, Italy currently only collects ten percent of the rainwater.

Barriers and new freshwater basins are to be paid for with the money from the EU recovery fund. In the short term, however, this does not help the rice farmers.

The regions collide

How urgent their situation is at the moment is shown by the fact that the regions are now arguing about water. The Veneto region, in which large parts of the Po delta are located, has asked the autonomous province of South Tyrol to release more water from its reservoir in the Alps so that more water reaches the rice farmers down in the delta via the Adige river.

But South Tyrol hesitates. Because there, too, the precipitation last winter was two-thirds below the usual level.

The reservoirs are empty, little water is to be expected from snowmelt, and many glaciers – the water tanks of the past – are now scree fields.

Why damming is attractive

At the same time, the little dammed water in the Alps is a lucrative source of energy. The electricity from hydropower can be generated as required and also brings in more money depending on the market situation.

In Veneto, it is assumed that the South Tyroleans are currently selling less water than they could for economic reasons. The Italian constitution clearly states that agricultural interests take precedence over economic ones.

In South Tyrol, the accusation is rejected: If South Tyrol were to continuously deliver the amount of water requested by Venetia, all reservoirs in South Tyrol would be completely empty within 20 days, calculates Andreas Bordonetti from Alperia Greenpower.

In northern Italy, people are already talking about the “water war”. And hope for rain.

You can see this and other reports in Europamagazin – on Sunday at 12:45 p.m. in the first.