Burrito, Reggio Emilia Province, northern Italy. Under the bridge at the entrance to the city, the river is almost invisible. It highlights the concrete foundations of its columns, which are usually submerged in water. Where Italy's longest river, the Po, once flowed, there is now a large beach. Where once was a riverbed, boys and girls now venture on foot. Couple walking with dog, throwing sticks in the distance. The animals race to get it back, happily exploring a normally off-limits area.
It is April 2023. Not a single drop of rain has fallen in two and a half months. The river's flow has decreased dramatically, raising fears of a repeat of what happened in 2022, when the Po River reached its lowest level in recorded history. “The river level is at a very low level for this season,” confirms engineer Alessio Piccarelli of the Po River Regional Agency (Aipo).
The agency, headquartered in Burrito, conducts hydrographic surveys. the Mitori – Workers responsible for controlling the depth of the river depart from here and the other seven stations every day. The agency then issues a bulletin to report navigation conditions. He is a distinguished observer of the so-called Thin: Periods in which Bo suffers.
The lack of rain, combined with the absence of snow in the mountain ranges, is putting Italy's greatest river under great pressure. Snow no longer falls at the same rate, and Alpine glaciers, fossil water reservoirs, are becoming smaller. If the rain does not fall, the entire system will go into crisis. This situation is likely to get worse in the near future.
“These flows are usually recorded in August,” says Piccarelli. “But with an added fact: In the summer, the water is used for agriculture.” In other words, when farmers pump water for irrigation, the problem will be greater. “For years, predictive climate models have been telling us that the Po Valley is likely to dry up. This is happening before our eyes. This is the trend. But, of course, the current situation could change at any moment.
And I actually did that. In mid-May 2023, an unusual amount of rain fell on various parts of the Po Valley, causing many rivers and streams to flood. The Po River eventually remained within its banks, but many of its tributaries overflowed, resulting in catastrophic effects and heavy human losses: 16 people killed and 23,000 displaced.
Floods in Emilia-Romagna in 2023. Image: Nick.mon; Source: Wikimedia Commons
Lack of vision
The Bo Index is a real test of the increasingly noticeable impacts of the climate crisis in Italy. The country is located in the middle of the Mediterranean region, a climatic hotspot, where the consequences of global warming are most pronounced. Rising temperatures, coupled with a series of extreme weather events, are putting pressure on the region.
According to the European Severe Weather Database, Italy witnessed 3,192 severe weather events in 2022; Some 2,766 cases have already been recorded in the first nine months of 2023. This is an astronomical rate, considering that the number rarely exceeded 100 between 2000 and 2010.
“In Italy and throughout the Mediterranean, global warming is having a particular impact: not only is the average temperature rising, but extreme events are also increasing due to changing atmospheric circulation,” explains atmospheric physicist Antonello Pasini. “Previously, we were accustomed to high atmospheric pressure that always came from west to east, especially with the famous Azores anticyclone. This anticyclone served as a buffer for stable air, protecting us from the turbulence of northern Europe, as well as from the African heat. Now it causes Human-induced global warming causes the equatorial cyclone to expand northward. This change means that African anticyclones, previously permanently located in the Sahara, enter the Mediterranean and reach Italy. When they eventually turn back, Cold currents enter and meet previous warm, moist air, creating enormous thermal contrast.This is how extreme weather events happen.
Fluctuating between alarmingly low water levels and catastrophic floods appears to be the new trend in the Po, as in many other Italian rivers. The drought in 2022 was the worst in 200 years, causing agricultural yields and hydropower production to decline. According to Italy's largest agricultural association, Coldiretti, water shortages have caused agricultural production in Italy to decline by 10 percent, with farmers losing nearly six billion euros. This year was little better, with successive droughts and extreme events causing massive damage on a similar scale.
“We must call a spade a spade: we are in the midst of a climate emergency.” Born and raised in the area, Giuliano Landini is the living memory of the river. He is the captain of Stradivari, Italy's longest inland cruise ship. At the head of his ship anchored in Burrito Harbor, he was sad. He looks at the river and shakes his head.
For years the captain had been complaining about having no view of the largest river in Italy. “The current climate scenario clearly shows us the weakness of the system. Either we cry because the Po River is dry, or we live in fear of floods. The truth is that the river has been abandoned to itself. I always ask myself: why do the Seine, the Danube and the Elbe – All major European rivers – navigable while the Po suffers?
For Landini, the solution is clear: Kissing, or founding. This plan will consist of dams with hydroelectric power plants and navigation locks. “This would allow the river to always be navigable and would avoid wasting water when there is too much of it. As a river man, like my father and grandfather, I can assure you that we will not get out of this crisis until we can manage water once and for all through Dams on the Po River.
A previous campaign in the region called for the construction of five dams. Only one was built on the island of Isola Serafini in the province of Piacenza, with a basin and a hydroelectric power station. Other plans have been shelved. It was decided to keep the river flowing freely.
Becoming an aquarium is not a solution shared by everyone – especially environmentalists, who fear too radical a change in ecosystems. But one part of Landini's argument is indisputable: that the Po River is a forgotten region. What was once a vibrant place, with its own culture and economy, is now on the margins, ignored by politicians and even those who live on its banks.
Overused and undervalued
“No one likes to talk about Albo,” Landini continues. “Yet its water is useful to everyone: for agriculture, industry, energy production, and more.” It's the giant Italian paradox. One third of the country's population lives in Po Valley, Po Valley. It generates 40 percent of the national GDP, 35 percent of agricultural production, and 55 percent of hydropower production. However, the Po River is treated as an obstacle rather than a resource. Or worse: as a reservoir from which water is drawn for the valley's many factory farms, for gravel pick-ups, or for use as sewers for industrial wastewater.
The area has been overexploited. “It's no secret that it's the most polluted area in Europe,” says Paolo Belleri, professor of regional and environmental planning at Milan Polytechnic. He explains that the floods that Emilia-Romagna witnessed last May had disastrous effects because the region became fragile due to human action. “Between 2020 and 2021, Emilia-Romagna is the region with the third highest rate of land consumption in Italy. About 658 hectares were concreted in just one year, equivalent to 10.4 percent of the national total. In just a few years, the rate of resistance reached… Waterproof surfaces in the region reached 8.9 percent, compared to the national average of 7.1 percent. We know very well that water does not seep through the asphalt, but flows quickly from it, accumulating quantity and energy, and causing damage and casualties.
It is as if the Po and its tributaries, made invisible by human exploitation, are reclaiming the space that was stolen from them. “Bo is like a wounded giant.” Swell and dry as desired. It becomes hard with water when agriculture is at its most thirsty. Landini poetically says: “He distributes hardship and pain to the population who turned their backs on him.”
In the face of these erratic trends in the river, many stakeholders who use the waters of the Po River are trying to envision solutions. “Data from recent years show that drought has become a structural problem. The challenges of climate change impose a new reality in which we cannot blame the irrational use of resources,” says Francesco Vincenzi, agribusinessman and president of the National Land and Irrigation Water Management Association. “The challenges of climate change impose a new reality in which we cannot blame the irrational use of resources.” Agricultural organizations are active in Proposing solutions to what is a vital problem for them, Vincenzi adds: “To deal with the growing water shortage, it is necessary to launch an infrastructure plan to adapt irrigation canals and ensure the safety of water resources.”
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the financing instrument approved by the European Union after the COVID-19 pandemic, allocates €880 million specifically for the purpose of making the irrigation system more efficient and building containment ponds. “These small reservoirs will allow water conservation from a multi-functional perspective, both for agriculture and for energy. Given that today we reserve only 11 percent of water, it is urgent to implement these works.
Everyone seems to agree on the need to preserve resources that are becoming scarcer every day. “But it is also necessary to question the prevailing agricultural model in the Po Valley,” Belleri adds. “Farmers complain about the ecosystem becoming unbalanced, but it is partly these same farmers who make it so. For example: in the middle part of the Po River, there are vast areas of maize, a crop that requires a lot of water. Do not use this maize For human consumption, but also for feeding pigs on intensive farms and for biogas production. Does it make sense to use water to produce feed and energy rather than products for human consumption?
According to Belleri, the only solution is to rethink the development model: this means stopping land consumption, changing production models, and rethinking our relationship with ecosystems. But his reasoning does not attract much support. Despite repeated disasters and massive damage to people and property, combating the climate crisis is not at the top of the Meloni government's agenda.
Italy is one of the few European countries that does not have a national climate change adaptation plan. A draft plan has been on the table at the Ministry of Environment since 2017, awaiting evaluation, which never came. Some members of the ruling coalition have repeatedly stressed that global warming is an overestimated problem.
The approach to the Po Valley reflects the Italian government's approach to the climate emergency as a whole. Until the next drought or catastrophic event, when apathy temporarily gives way to cost-counting and lamentation over “inevitable” and “unforeseen” misfortune.
