110 Days Without Rain Dries Up Longest River in Italy

After months without significant rainfall, the Po River, the longest river in Italy, is experiencing record low water levels. Between June 2020 and June 2022, a significant portion of the Po Valley, close to Piacenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, shrank.

Italy's Longest River, Po

The vast waterway, which stretches from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic Sea on the east coast, is an essential source of water for many areas. It provides drinking water, irrigates sizable areas of farmland, and generates hydroelectricity in northern Italy.

Italy's longest river, the Po, flows eastward through its northern region from the Pian del Re of Monte Viso to the Adriatic Sea close to Venice.

High temperatures, a lack of snow in the mountains that feed the river, and a lack of rainfall, the most recent of which lasted 110 days, have all been prevalent in northern Italy. Water levels in the Po Valley have now fallen to record lows as a result of this. The Po River Observatory reports that many of these areas have now gone more than 110 days without even a drop of rain.

Food Supply, Life Line

The Po River, which was once a wide expanse of muddy water, has since dried up, leaving vast stretches of exposed sand.

The Po Valley, which produces about 40% of Italy's food, including rice, wheat, and tomatoes, is the most significant agricultural region in the nation. Farmers are finding it difficult to maintain crop irrigation due to the ongoing drought, and many towns in the Po Valley have been asked to ration water at night due to the drought.

Benjamin Koetz, Head of ESA's Sustainable Initiatives Office, pointed out that, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, agriculture uses up to 70% of all freshwater, and given the growing water shortage, water use in this industry needs to be more effective. The Copernicus Expansion Missions' Land Surface Temperature Monitoring Mission, which will enable field-level crop evapotranspiration monitoring and thereby support sustainable irrigation practices, is being prepared by ESA specifically for this purpose.

Crippling Heatwave

The Mediterranean Sea is currently experiencing a marine heatwave, with temperatures in May 2022 being 7.2 °F higher than average for the 1985-2005 period, according to new findings from the ESA-funded project CAREHeat. The results show that the surface water temperature peaked at over 73 °F, Sci Tech Daily reports.

Several Italian research organizations, including the Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), National Agency for New Technology, and the National Research Council (CNR), are involved in the project, which aims to develop methods for identifying marine heat waves and evaluating their impact on marine ecosystems and economic pursuits like fishing.

State of Emergency

Due to a drought brought on by a lack of precipitation and rising temperatures, the Italian government declared a state of emergency on Monday in five regions.

According to an analysis by the Po River District Basin Authority, Prime Minister Mario Draghi claimed that this is the most serious water crisis to have affected the Po basin in the previous 70 years.