Meuccio Berselli, the secretary general of the River Po district authority, said Wednesday that the drought that is hitting Italy’s longest river means that some northern towns are needing to have water supplies brought in by trucks.
Berselli told ANSA that trucks have been taking water to dozens of towns in Piedmont and Lombardy because “the local reservoirs are fed by sources that no longer exist”. Berselli said it has not rained in some parts of the north for 110 days and the drought was “worsening”.
He said a new meeting of the bodies concerned would be held on June 21. More frequent and intense droughts are among the consequences of human-caused climate change, scientists say.
The drought alert has now spread from the Po valley to central rivers like the Arno, the Aniene and the Tiber, officials said Thursday. They said their water levels were “drastically down” after Po official said its level was more than three quarters down. While Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna are set to request a state of emergency, authorities in the more central regions are urging a reduction in the use of water for energy.
