In Sardinia it doesn't rain and the basins are empty. If the trend does not change, in the next summer season the restrictions risk being inevitable. To get the picture of the drought, just look at the data on the filling of the basins: at the end of December 2021 the artificial reservoirs were full to 83.12% of their capacity, while in December 2022 the level dropped to 60.21%.
«The latest bulletin indicates that there are 1,098 million cubic meters of water in the reservoirs», explains Francesca Ghirra, a Cagliari deputy of the Verdi-Left alliance, «slightly more than 60 per cent of the authorized useful volume: data that led already now at the declaration of the drought early warning state, an indication of a situation that risks becoming very serious in the coming spring and summer months".
The prolonged drought has also had a deleterious effect on the groundwater, which has decreased by as much as two thirds in five years with consequent limitations on the use of water in many parts of the island.
«It is essential to continue with the activity of constant monitoring of the situation», underlines Ghirra, «but it is also and above all necessary to urgently prepare and develop massive maintenance interventions and projects for the construction of new infrastructures, which make it possible to avoid the use of restrictive measures on a resource such as water, a primary and fundamental asset for the whole community».
The subject was brought to the attention of the Minister of Public Works, Matteo Salvini, "to find out what initiatives he intends to take to combat the phenomenon of drought in Sardinia", concludes Ghirra.
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)