The Italian government around Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced the appointment of a special commissioner who will deal with the problem of water shortages. There are also plans to set up a commission with representatives from all the ministries that are confronted with the problem.
“The Commission’s role is to bring together many competencies shared between ministries and regions to accelerate plans to fight water scarcity,” Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto told Rai Radio 1 on Thursday.
The Commission, in consultation with the regions, is to draw up an extraordinary “water plan” and deal with the necessary simplifications and derogations to speed up the necessary work to deal with the drought. The Council of Ministers announced that an awareness-raising campaign is also planned for citizens to use water resources responsibly.
The government is also considering investments to replace aging water mains, which would allow significant savings in water supply. The 425,000 kilometers of water pipes in Italy are badly outdated.
Experts should also introduce measures to save water in agriculture. Agriculture is the sector that uses the most water.
Extraordinary droughts were recorded in Italy last summer, which caused major damage to agriculture, among other things – especially in the north. The country is currently experiencing a major water shortage again, but there are great concerns that the year will be even worse than 2022.