Crumbling Infrastructure Exacerbates Italian Drought

May 5 (EIRNS)--Reuters reported that Italy on May 4 declared a drought emergency in its northern and central regions because of severe drought conditions brought on by a warm, dry winter and early spring. Water levels in the Po river are very low due to lack of winter snow runoff, and there is fear of water shortages in the agriculture sector. There is also fear of electrical blackouts during the coming summer, as 15 percent of Italy's electricity comes from hydropower.

The drought has hit much of France and Germany as well, but Italy's problems are compounded by aging and ill-maintained water storage infrastructure, such as leaky reservoirs, canals, and pipes. The Italian Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio declared in Corriere Della Sera , "Apart from the state of emergency, we also need to improve infrastructure: our aqueducts are like sieves; every year they lose 2.2 million cubic meters of water at a cost of two and a half billion euros."