By IPS Correspondents
ROME, Aug 8 2002 (IPS)

Italy is suffering one of its worst droughts in history, the result of a hot, dry summer that followed one of the driest winters in 80 years, and of a rundown water distribution system – a “veritable sieve” according to one expert – that loses a full 40 percent of the water it carries.

The southern regions of Sicily, Cerdeña and Puglia are facing a severe shortage of 1.5 billion litres of water, which has especially hurt agriculture.

Italy’s farmers already lost 1.7 billion dollars last year, and stand to lose another 2.5 billion by the end of the summer.

A 65 percent deficit of water has been reported in the southern region of Basilicata, a 62 percent deficit in Cerdeña, and a 37 percent deficit in Sicily.

In another southern region, Calabria, even the hospitals are facing a shortage of water, and had to ask the fire stations for emergency supplies.

Consumption of water per person in the entire country stands at 190 litres a day, compared to just 37 a day in the south.

Central and northern Italy are also suffering severe shortages. The region of Lombardy is seeking the declaration of a state of disaster for nine of its provinces affected by the lack of rainfall, which would give it access to special government funds.

An estimated 35 million of Italy’s 58 million people suffer water shortages in one or more quarters of the year.

“The entire country is facing drought-related problems, because the water pipes are veritable sieves through which 40 percent of the water is lost – one of the worst examples of wastefulness and squandering in Europe,” said Paolo Cuccia, managing director of the public enterprise Acea, which supplies Rome with water.

Ninety-three percent of Italy’s 13,000 aqueducts belong to municipal governments, and two-thirds of the water they transport goes to agriculture.

The squandering of water is seen in more than half of Europe’s large cities, but Italy’s urban centres are the worst, said Cuccia. In Germany, for example, 12 percent of the water is lost.

“Until Italians realize the importance of water and use it in a responsible manner, Italy will live in a permanent state of water emergency,” said Cuccia.

“We are among the biggest consumers of water in Europe, and the cost of potable water in Italy is the lowest: 75 cents of a dollar per daily cubic metre per family,” he added.

However, in other regions of the world, water shortages are truly catastrophic, like in Africa, where 200 million people suffer scarcity or a lack of access to potable water.

Experts warn that fresh water is not an inexhaustible resource, and that global reserves have diminished 40 percent in the past 30 years. They predict that due to population growth and the increase in pollution, three billion people in the world will have no access to potable water by 2020.

According to Cuccia, a majority of the wars in the 21st century will be disputes over water, an increasingly scarce resource.

To prevent the theft and resale of water in some of Italy’s southern regions, authorities may have to call out the army, said Minister of Agricultural Policy, Gianni Alemano.

“The south is facing the risk of becoming a desert, which means plants to desalinate ocean water must be immediately installed,” said technician Diego Barba, who implemented an irrigation project in cities in the United Arab Emirates.

Athough the central government has earmarked 550 million dollars to address the problems caused by drought in the southern part of the country, the Italian Confederation of Farmers described the funds as a “bandaid solution.”

A comprehensive policy for the rational management of water is urgently needed, because otherwise the situation will remain severe, said the president of the Confederation, Massimo Pacetti.

“The lack of water is not an extraordinary development, but a product of the climate change that we have been studying in Europe for years,” said the director of the Institute of Meteorology, Giampiero Maracchi.

“We must modify our habits, our way of life, and the way we farm,” said the expert, who is taking part in a European Union study on solutions for dealing with climate change in the Mediterranean region.

The crops chosen must be compatible with the water that is available, he pointed out, noting that 15,000 cubic metres of water, besides rainfall, are needed to grow a hectare of rice, 9,000 are needed for a hectare of kiwis, 6,000 for tomatoes and 5,700 for corn, while no extra irrigation is needed for wheat.

He acknowledged that it would not be easy to ask farmers to abandon crops that require large amounts of water, but provide a big profit margin.

But industry must also modify its production methods, said Maracchi, who pointed out that steel mills consume 20 million cubic metres of fresh water a year.

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