Dramatic drought in the Po basin
The situation is dramatic in the Po basin, a “field” of the “made in Italy” agri-food, but where, in the persistent absence of rain, it is now on the eve of drastic choices to ensure a flow rate of the Po river, sufficient for withdrawals for use drinking water and to counteract the rise of the saline wedge, which is altering the environmental balance in the delta, drying up the territories: from the source to the mouth, not only the flows in the riverbed are well below what has been recorded in recent years, but in Pontelagoscuro, with 301.6 cubic meters per second, it fell well below the previous historical minimum, set at cubic meters / sec. 320.
“In the face of this emergency, we ask for the immediate activation of a control room, which includes the main technical and political bodies, to evaluate, in compliance with the priorities of the law, all the possible solutions and consequent actions regarding releases and withdrawals water supply in the riverbed, governing the inevitable problems that will follow “ declares Francesco Vincenzi, President of the National Association of Consortia for the Management and Protection of the Territory and Irrigation Waters (ANBI).
Around the table, coordinated by the Civil Protection, should sit, in addition to ANBI, the 4 Regions concerned (Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Veneto), the regional basin authorities of the Po river and the Eastern Alps, the representatives of the electricity operators and of the main “stakeholders”.
“Any choices to be made – specifies Massimo Gargano, General Manager of ANBI – they cannot, in fact, fall on a single stakeholder, but must be the result of choices made responsibly in a collegial manner, in the absolute certainty that everyone does their part and that what has been decided reaches the set objectives. It is unacceptable, in fact, to penalize the economy of a territory with water without the reasonable certainty of an effective refreshment useful for increasing the levels in the riverbed. “
The next few weeks will be the most critical for the crops in the field and a water stress would jeopardize the yield or could even cause, in some territories, the partial or total loss of production; for this reason, ANBI recalls the need not to limit the assessments to simple hydro-meteorological considerations, but also to analyze the overall water condition of the territories and above all the phenological state of the crops, also considering the strategic objective of increasing the food self-sufficiency of the Village.
“We hope – he concludes Vincenzi – that the gravity of the situation and the evidence of the emergency in progress urgently leads to the necessary infrastructuring of the territory, to start with new basins to retain rainwater and counteract the consequences of climate change, increasing the resilience of communities. “
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