Press
There is a water shortage in Sicily. Drought and heat are endangering the livelihoods of humans and animals. The next few months will probably be even worse.
Catania – Summer in Germany has been holding back so far. Instead of the feared “hellish summer”, rain and thunderstorms dominate the weather in June. Looking south, however, the regrets are likely to be limited. On the Mediterranean island, which is also popular with German holidaymakers, people are longing for rain, and an extreme drought has Sicily firmly in its grip.
Barely a drop of rain has fallen in recent months. Even in winter, temperatures were unusually mild, even for Italy, which led to a drought, which is now being followed by a heat wave. Water supplies for humans and animals are dwindling rapidly. But the toughest months are probably still to come.
Drought, heat, fires – locals describe the situation in Sicily as dramatic
The local newspaper La Sicily reports that the island is currently at a similar level to that during the great drought of 2002 – an almost grotesque situation given the constant rain on Lake Garda. In the south in particular, temperatures can reach up to 42 degrees Celsius, and in 2021 record values of almost 49 degrees were recorded. According to the Sicilian Agricultural Meteorological Service (Sias), the little rain that has fallen in Sicily in the last twelve months has only just wetted the surface layer of the soil, from where it quickly evaporated again.
Drought, heat and wind – in the past, this combination has repeatedly led to severe forest fires. And: The island gets its drinking water mainly from natural and artificial lakes that depend on winter rain. But the winter of 2023 began with the hottest October in the last 100 years. The thermometer reached up to 35 degrees, normally the temperatures do not exceed 25 degrees, as the online travel guide siculus.com reported.
The consequences are devastating: many lakes now resemble a desert landscape, like Show posters of angry localsAccording to the National Association of Agricultural Water Authorities, the capacity of some drinking water reservoirs was already at ten percent in March of this year. “The situation is dramatic,” a farmer told the GuardianHis livestock is under massive threat from the water shortage. “The only source of water is an artificial pond, but it is nothing more than mud.”
Gloomy forecast for holiday paradise in Italy: “By 2030, a third of the island will be desert”
The island’s authorities were already concerned about the situation in the spring and in March they issued water-saving measures for more than 93 municipalities in Sicily. They are trying to deal with the tense situation with water tanks and are trying to get additional tankers. In May, according to research by the Guardian an aid package of 20 million euros – significantly less than the 130 million euros demanded by the regional government.
Locals have the impression that the Italian government has missed important measures to protect against climate change. Christian Mulder, professor of ecology and climate protection at the University of Catania, accuses the authorities of failure. “What we are seeing today in Sicily is the result of decades of mismanagement of water resources,” he told the Guardian.
Mulder paints a bleak picture of Sicily’s near future. “By 2030, a third of the island will be desert, comparable to the countries of Tunisia and Libya,” the British daily newspaper quotes him as saying. While a severe outbreak of norovirus is causing unrest in the north of Italy, in the south the fear of a supervolcano eruption is keeping the authorities on constant alert.
Sicily is running out of water – island also fears consequences for tourism
Even though the hardest months of July and August are still to come and the weather service La Sicily predicts “almost zero” rain, the local agricultural economy is already suffering. Almost 20 percent of wine production has been lost, fruit production has decreased by more than ten percent, reports the Guardian. And what does this mean for tourism?
The first tourists have already been turned away from hotels, as the industry portal Travel book reported. Smaller guesthouses in particular lack water, and in many areas the authorities turn off the water taps for large parts of the day. Last year, thousands of tourists found themselves on the island without access to water for days.
However, there is currently no official travel warning for the country. Therefore, there is no possibility of canceling booked trips to Sicily free of charge if the circumstances have made you no longer want to go on holiday. However, some holidaymakers have recently not made themselves particularly popular on the island pearl. (rku)
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