Drought, the invaded plan to save agriculture is only 2% implemented

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Not even a year of record drought like 2022 has moved much so far. Italy suffers serious difficulties in the management of water resources which in the past were masked behind the abundance of rainfall (both rain and snow), but which now, with climate change, suddenly appears to be no longer sustainable. And it certainly won’t be in the future. In short, it is necessary to run for cover quickly. There is no shortage of resources. There are different sources of funding that can be mobilized for these objectives starting from the budgets managed by the Ministry of European Affairs and Cohesion Policies. And then there is the dedicated chapter within the Pnrr with 880 million euros, even if this tranche of resources is linked to works to modernize and improve the efficiency of the existing irrigation network. Certainly important measures but which, even if implemented, will certainly not be able to solve the problems.

Italy recovers only 11% of the rain

Today the national water management system is able to accumulate and make available for agricultural irrigation uses, but also for industrial and civic uses, just 11% of the water that falls on the Italian territory (on average between 300 and 320 billion cubic meters per year). «It is on this percentage that we have to affect, to modify it in a sensitive way – explains the general manager of the association of land reclamation and management consortia and irrigation waters (Anbi), Massimo Gargano -. We, together with Coldiretti, have presented a plan for the construction of 10,000 small and medium-sized reservoirs to be implemented by 2030 which, if implemented, will make it possible to bring that percentage of 11% to 30%, perhaps 35%. 60% of these reservoirs are corporate and therefore made by private individuals with public co-financing where possible. The first 223 projects are already executive and some have already been completed and inaugurated. But we’re talking just over 2% of our plan. The attention of the institutions and local bodies is needed to give a strong acceleration and finally reach the objective of collecting the water resource during the year to make it available in periods in which there is a shortage instead”.

Project of 10 thousand basins

The “Piano Laghetti” presented by Anbi aims to immediately create 223 new reservoirs with an estimated cost of 3.2 billion euros (“it should be remembered – added the general director Anbi – that Coldiretti only for 2022 has estimated drought damage for 6 billion euros”) and the creation of 16,000 jobs. A plan that does not include the laying of concrete, but which focuses largely on the reuse of abandoned quarries. Areas which, once decommissioned, often become open-air landfills and, at best, the scene of rave parties.

The basin inaugurated last week in Castrezzato (Brescia) belongs to this typology, but abandoned and potentially reusable quarries have been identified in various Italian regions. The Plan does not envisage the construction of dams, but focuses not only on abandoned quarries but also on “expansion tanks”, i.e. flooded areas on the margins of rivers, which are submerged with floods but which with small interventions can conserve water and transform into naturalistic oases with water reserves to draw on in case of need.

Water and renewables

“Resolving water problems is the first objective of our plan – added Gargano – but in reality we propose much more. Another important step in our project is that floating photovoltaic panels can rest on these basins and lakes with a maximum of 5 million cubic meters of water for at least 30% of their total surface to produce energy. Photovoltaic energy together with hydroelectric energy obtained where it is possible to exploit “water jumps”, could be exploited by the consortium system to help local businesses reduce energy costs and, in this way, strengthen competitiveness of the Italian agri-food system It is a process that we have already started in Emilia, Lazio, Campania and Calabria and that we can replicate elsewhere». A production of clean and renewable energy which would also make it possible to bring Italy closer to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and provide a contribution to the reduction of CO2.