The November rains aren't enough, and Sardinia is once again facing a drought emergency. Starting today, the Central Sardinia Land Reclamation Consortium will only allow farms in the Maccheronis basin district to collect water for livestock watering and cleaning stables.
The agricultural world of Posada, Siniscola, Budoni, Torpè and San Teodoro is once again having to deal with a lack of rainfall and a practically empty reservoir : as of November 14th it held just 0.969 million cubic metres of water.
The communication sent to the Consortium by the Sardinia Hydrographic District Agency states that "it is necessary to significantly reduce withdrawals from Lake Maccheronis" and orders the closure of the consortium network and the start of forced monitoring.
"The Central Sardinia Land Reclamation Consortium," reads the note signed by Secretary General Costantino Azzena, "is asked to cease agricultural use, effective November 19, 2025, by taking appropriate action on the managed network, and to ensure that it is only used for animal welfare purposes."
And again: "Similarly to what was done in the summer of 2024, starting from the week of November 17, 2025, the relevant authorities will have to activate enhanced monitoring and transmit to Adis, on a weekly basis, the information within their remit needed to monitor the reservoir's water balance."
"The possibility of falling back into the nightmare of summer 2024," regretfully comments Ambrogio Guiso, president of the Consortium, "was there and was foreseeable because the climate has now taken this turn and is not giving any concessions. We knew it could happen again. What we didn't expect, however, was the lack of serious political planning to date that takes into account all the proposals put forward by the local community, the local population, and not just the agricultural sector that our organization operates. These include, from interconnecting basins to desalination plants, groundwater monitoring, wastewater recovery, and the possibility of building another reservoir, Abba Luchente, which, with Maccheronis, would allow for at least two-year water conservation."
