A scorching heat has erased the greenery of the countryside ahead of time, with the "historic" wells that have always been used to irrigate the fields and to quench the thirst of the livestock now dry. Thus in the countryside of Sinnai but also of the whole of Sardinia we are living the days of desperation with the vineyards burned by the sun and with the shepherds who are saving the livestock by buying fodder from wherever they find it (it's not easy) and bringing water to the sheepfolds.
The level of the wells has dropped since June. Today they are almost all dry. Pietro Ruggeri, a breeder from Sinnai, looked for water by moving his flock of 700 sheep to the Settimo countryside where he had been told of a well that was still producing a trickle of water. He arrived here with his flock still today in the countryside of “Su Tzinnibili”, “Sarriu e sa pira”: «I found the well. It ensured a trickle of water. It's been dry for days." The Sinnai breeder didn't give up. «I loaded a thousand liter barrel on the off-road vehicle, I fill it three times a day with tap water at home and I take it to the livestock by dumping it into a bathtub. It costs me a lot, but the livestock must be saved. I'm also buying bales of fodder, there's nothing here, it's all dry. Only the dust that is created when the cattle pass by when they move in search of a bit of shade."
Moses Farci, Luca Roberto Frigau, Piero Zanda, Eugenio and Angelo Spina are the other shepherds in the area. The inconveniences and damages are the same for everyone. The situation is dramatic everywhere. There is no grass, we buy fodder to save the flocks.
Moses Farci manages to quench the thirst of the cattle thanks to Acquavitana, the company that manages the water service in Sinnai and which has built a pipeline: among those who use it, there is also Moses Farci. «I thank Abbanoa. The livestock have water to drink. I feed it with alfalfa that I purchase from a farmer who has the ability to irrigate the land. I have no other choice. The aid promised by the Region? At the moment I haven't seen a euro. Everything would still be blocked by bureaucracy."
Angelo Spina has the flock in Santu Basileddu. «I have a well that still gives water. To feed the livestock I am buying fodder, a considerable expense, but it is the only way to save the flock."
The situation in the agricultural field with non-irrigated vineyards is dramatic. In Sinnai there is not a square meter of land irrigated by the Reclamation Consortium. The construction of the irrigation system is pending. There is a regional contribution of three million to build the main pipeline on approximately two thousand hectares of land, currently dry. The Reclamation Consortium is studying the project. It is proposed to use the water from Corongiu which would fall into the fields below. But some time will pass. Today the situation is devastating. Non-irrigated vineyards dry out, but also trees. Even the Mediterranean scrub suffers. The harvest is announced with losses of 40 percent in irrigated vineyards, seventy percent in dry ones.
