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Southern Europe is feeling the consequences of more extreme heat waves and longer droughts amplified by climate change.
Now in EU countries, governments from Portugal to Italy are being forced to call on citizens to limit their water use as much as possible. But in some countries this is not enough. While private water consumption in the EU accounts for only 9% of the total use, around 60% is absorbed by agriculture.
Droughts are one thing. The other is how much water we manage to get out of the system. Drier European summers and winters will become more frequent. across Europe, water levels have dropped significantly.
Experts talk about a rainfall deficit in almost all 11 European regions studied by them. The situation is perhaps most dramatic in northern Italy, where the region is experiencing its most extreme drought since the 1950s. More than 100 cities have been asked to limit water consumption as much as possible. On Monday, the Italian government declared a state of emergency in five regions of the country until the end of the year. It plans to provide 36 million euros in the short term to fight the water crisis.
Authorities in the northwestern regions around the Sesia River have ordered that fruit trees and poplars no longer be irrigated. Portugal is also preparing for a very dry winter this year. In early 2022, a lack of rainfall and low water levels in the dams prompted the executive to limit the use of hydropower plants to two hours a week. The goal is to guarantee the supply of drinking water for the 10 million inhabitants of Portugal for at least two years. In Spain, the weather is already extremely dry and two-thirds of the total land surface is at risk of desertification. Once-fertile lands are increasingly turning to sandier areas after the second driest winter since 1961, according to Spain’s meteorological office.
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