International reporting
Drought: marine intrusion in the Po Delta, Italy
Audio 02:36
Rodolfo Laurenti, engineer and vice-director of the Consorzio di Bonifica Delta del Po irrigation union, points out that the existing "anti-salt" device has not prevented salt water intrusions up to 30 kilometers from the coast.
Photo taken on 07/13/22 © RFI/Pauline Gleize
By: Pauline Gleize Follow
3 mins
Northern Italy, in the Po plain, is according to the European Commission the region of Europe most seriously affected by drought.
The situation there is particularly worrying, because the summer is far from over and such a water deficit at this time had not been observed for 70 years.
Drought also sometimes affects water quality.
The Po Delta is facing saltwater intrusion.
Report from Porto Tolle, Veneto
Advertising
With our special correspondent in Porto Tolle
"
Those are siphons
."
The vast agricultural territory of the Po Delta is criss-crossed with canals and infrastructures to irrigate and clean up the land sometimes located below sea level. Po Delta Irrigation Syndicate
,
designates this installation:
“
These siphons should take water from the Po and put it in the canals for the benefit of agriculture.
Currently, as you can see, they are on hold.
»
Yet there is water in the Po
,
salt water.
Explanation a few kilometers further with Rodolfo Laurenti, engineer and vice-director of the union, on the banks of the Po, crossed by a row of posts.
“
Inside these pylons, there are anti-salt barriers.
When the flow of the river is greater than 450 m3 per second, they open and let the river flow normally.
When the flow is lower and when, at high tide, the sea rises, these gates close and stop the sea on that side.
But, with an exceptionally low flow of 150 m3 per second, even this infrastructure has become inefficient, so the sea takes the river backwards for 30 km.
»
Map in support, Rodolfo Laurenti tries to understand the impact on this part of the Delta.
“
We no longer manage to use all the mouths that we see on this map.
We've activated all of our emergency systems.
At low tide, we tried to convey what little fresh water we had.
From the highest points to the points closest to the sea,
specifies the engineer.
It is difficult and expensive to get a small profit.
There may be 10-15% of the water needed, but it's better than nothing.
We will then see there, the already perceptible damage to the crops.
»
► To read also: Half of the EU facing drought: in northern Italy, the delicate management of drinking water
Nearly 1/3 of agricultural production threatened
A ccording
to the Coldiretti union, the drought threatens more than 30% of national agricultural production.
Despite efforts amounting to 500,000 euros, 15,000 hectares have had little or no water for a month.
This is precisely a field of thirsty corn.
It is not that of Adriano Tugnolo, but the farmer deplores the state of the crop.
"See, he doesn't have a cob,
he should be bigger and already have a cob
.
That's good corn for biogas, it won't make grain.
And it's because of the drought, just look at the cracks in the ground.
It is a field, where there is nothing or very little to harvest.
»
In the longer term, local agriculture could be transformed.
“
I am not a diviner, but it is foreseeable that from next year there will be fewer hectares of maize
.
»
For drinking water, a desalination unit was used
.
Too costly a solution for agriculture.
The Po Delta Irrigation Syndicate is instead advocating for regulation of the river and the installation of a new anti-salt barrier that retains fresh water in the main arm of the river to increase its flow.
A project that would cost more than 50 million euros.
► To read also: Drought in Italy: agriculture in the north of the country struggles to irrigate the fields
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Italy
Climate change
Agriculture and Fishing
Environment