AGRIGENTO, Italy (AP) – The lakes are dry and fields are being scorched by the heat in Sicily, but water is still flowing in abundance for tourists.
After an almost completely rain-free year on the Italian island, fountains inside the famous archaeological park of Agrigento are still flowing, and pools in rows of hotels are full.
Like many Mediterranean islands, people in Sicily have experienced long periods without rain, but the weather has become more erratic due to human-caused climate change, and droughts can be longer and more frequent. The people of the islands have been living as they have for many years – they store as much as they can in cisterns and use tankers to deliver water – and they do so well for visitors that they don’t notice the difference. But this year, the drought has gotten so bad that it’s putting residents at even greater risk, even as water still flows to hotels and tourist sites.
Resilience in a dry year
The drought is punishing. The local water basin authority has strictly rationed water to almost a million residents – they are allowed as little as two to four times a week – to get through the summer. And on Friday, the first tanker ship of the Italian navy arrived to supply 12 million liters (3.2 million gallons) of water to the most affected residents.
But the residents of Agrigento are among the most drought-resilient in Italy, and even with rationing, they run their businesses, hotels, bed and breakfasts and families without losing a shower, neglecting their garden or closing the pool.
“No one can cope with the water shortage better than the Sicilians in the south,” said Salvatore Cocina, head of the local civil defense, which has the difficult task of protecting the small amount of water left on the island. coordination.
Water scarcity is not new as the terrain of southern Sicily does not hold much water and the aquifers are leaking. The region also experiences frequent dry spells, especially in summer.
Most residents have a private cistern that can hold at least one thousand liters (264 gallons) of water. Large plastic tanks are dotted on the roofs of the city, and there are just as many underground in gardens and basements.
Despite the water crisis, tourists continue to flock to the beautiful beaches of southern Sicily and turn up to recognize the remains of the ancient Greek colonies.
“I had no problem with the water,” said New Zealand tourist Iain Topp, sweating under the blazing sun during a visit to the 2,500-year-old Concord temple. But he said he was told to “conserve water because there could be a shortage.”
Gianluca, an Italian tourist from Lodi who did not give his last name, said “there are no problems with drought” in his experience and “at my hotel, they told me they have their own reserve, their cisterns.”
Priority has also been given to the Valley of Temples archaeological site, which its director said drew in over a million visitors last year, so it is not suffering from water shortages.
“We have water 24/7,” explained director Roberto Sciarratta. “Our archaeologists are at work, the valley is also open at night with theater plays. We have no problem with water supplies.”
Meanwhile, water-scarce residents’ tactics have been working reasonably well for some time now, but they are facing very difficult circumstances.
2024 was the worst year for rain in more than 20 years according to the regional civil defense department. Lake Fanaco, which supplies water to the province of Agrigento, was used to collect up to 18 million cubic meters of water during the rainy season, which usually runs from September to April. But by April the water in the lake was already below 2 million cubic meters and it is now almost completely dry.
In May, the national government declared a state of emergency for drought and allocated 20 million euros ($21.7 million) to buy water tankers and dig new wells.
And the temperature in southern Sicily is currently 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) warmer than the 1991-2020 average, according to the Climate Shift Index, which means that water is quickly evaporating.
“If it doesn’t rain in September, we’re going to have to start tapping critical reserves, and wells and aquifers are going to go below critical levels, not just our lakes,” Cocina said.
Thin stretched solutions
Salvatore Di Maria’s phone rarely stops ringing. He is a driver and owner of one of the main water tanker fleets in the area.
On a recent hot day, Di Maria picked up his phone while filling up his bright blue tanker at a public water station for another customer.
“I need 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) of water,” said the voice on the other end, calling from a tourist center.
“There is a waiting list of 10 to 15 days,” replied Di Maria.
Everyone asks him for water. Everyone wants to make sure they don’t run out of water. Everyone wants to have full cisterns. And tankers are the best way to deliver the precious water directly to residents without leakage.
Thousands of tanker drivers speed along winding roads delivering water to priority areas as determined by the local water company, AICA. The highest priority groups are the sick or elderly, hospitals, and some key businesses, such as hotels.
“The drought emergency was a wake-up call,” explained Settimio Cantone, president of AICA. “Our aquifer skis between 50 and 60 percent of its water.”
“We are now digging new wells, fixing all the water works and reactivating a desalination plant with the emergency funds. This will make our province more independent,” he said.
“Sicily is so vulnerable because of leaking pipes and outdated and underdeveloped infrastructure. It’s not just the climate,” said Giulio Boccaletti, scientific director of the Euro-Mediterranean center on climate change.
In between visits from water tankers, some Agrigento residents make frequent trips to the only public well left open in town to fill their jerseys on the way home.
Nuccio Navarra is one of those residents, filling up jerrycans from the Bonamorone well two or three times a day. “In my house we get water every 15 days and the pressure is very low, and those who live on the upper floors cannot fill the cisterns,” he said.
Climate scientist Boccaletti fears for the future, although he noted that fixing water infrastructure and investing in adapting agriculture and engineering as AICA hopes to do could offset some concerns.
The Mediterranean Basin “The coming years will see higher temperatures, less rain and continued sea level rise,” according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The group dubbed the region a “climate change hotspot” because of the vulnerability of human society and ecosystems.
“What was once extraordinary is now the new normal,” Boccaletti said.
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