Water emergency, 20% of water resources lost in Italy
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The health of rivers and lakes, transitional waters and groundwater reserves is good but water levels are declining. And availability drops. In the last climatological thirty years, i.e. from 1991 to 2020, there has been a reduction in the level of about 20 percent, going from 550 mm in the past to about 440 today.
The Big Bang
These are the estimates of the Bigbang, the hydrological model created by Ispra which analyzes the hydrological situation from 1951 to 2021 providing a quantitative and qualitative picture of the water in Italy and which sees experts and researchers still working to conclude the 2022 assessment. Also long-term estimates (1951-2021) show a significant reduction, about 16% less than the historical average annual value. «This reduction, largely due to the impacts of climate change – they argue from Ispra -, can be attributed not only to the decrease in rainfall, but also to the increase in evaporation from bodies of water and transpiration from vegetation, for effect of rising temperatures.
Need to change direction
That’s not all, because future climate projections highlight, both on a global and local scale, “the possible impacts of climate change on the hydrological cycle and on the availability of water resources, from the short to the long term”. According to the experts, the condition «will not be able to change, if effective actions are not put in place to reduce anthropic pressures, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and in terms of water resource management, with a view to adaptation and sustainability of its uses”.
Between drought and high temperatures
The availability of water reserves, used both for civil and agricultural and industrial uses, is reduced by the deficit of rainfall, and therefore by drought, and by high temperatures. “Our studies have already highlighted for some time a statistically significant increase in the percentage of the Italian territory subject to conditions of extreme drought on an annual time scale”. From the researchers then another aspect: «The analyzes on the national water balance, conducted by the Institute in collaboration with Istat, have also highlighted the significant role of water withdrawals from water bodies which, even in non-drought years and with a large higher than normal water availability can lead to water stress conditions. This happened for Italy, for example, in the summer of 2019″.
Researcher
«What we are witnessing is a consequence of climate change and, in particular, of their impact on the hydrological cycle and on the availability of water resources – comments Stefano Mariani, Ispra researcher -. Effective actions to mitigate human pressures need to be put in place, both in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in terms of the use and management of water resources with a view to adaptation and sustainability. Otherwise, the situation will only get worse.” However, underlines the researcher, “it should be emphasized that the effectiveness of mitigation actions depends on the acquisition of a solid, detailed and punctual knowledge framework at the various spatio-temporal scales on the qualitative and quantitative status of the water resource, on withdrawals, on the returns of water to water bodies, and on the availability of water resources for ecosystems”.
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