Sicily In Worst Drought In History; 1/3 Of Reservoirs Dry Or Nearly So; No Snow In 2 Yrs, No Rain In Months

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Sicily is grappling with the most serious water crisis in its history. The island, the largest and most populous in the Mediterranean, where a European record high temperature of 48.8C was reached in 2021, is at risk of desertification. Despite the recent autumn rains, and with Christmas approaching, thousands of families are still storing supplies of water containers in their homes for washing or cooking. In many provinces of the island, authorities have announced water rationing, while the capacity of reservoirs in dams is almost halved (-48%) compared to last year. A third of the Sicilian basins that supply water to homes are now completely or nearly dry.

This is the case of the Ancipa dam, a reservoir on the course of the Troina River in the Enna province, nestled among the Nebrodi mountains that run along the north-east of Sicily. Ancipa has a capacity of more than 30m cubic metres, but according to data from the Sicilian Hydrographic Basin Authority, in recent days, it has been reduced to less than 290,000. By the end of November, regional authorities ordered that the water from the dam be temporarily used to supply some towns in the province of Caltanissetta, which are also struggling with the drought.

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“In all my life, I have never seen a water crisis so severe in Sicily,” says Silvia Macrí, 62. “We used to have water shortages in the summer. But here winter is approaching, and we are still filling buckets from an old water trough.” Traditionally, drinking water in the island is sourced from aquifersand subterranean rock layers saturated with water, while water for agriculture is stored in large tanks constructed after the second world war. Both systems rely on winter rainfall, which is increasingly scarce. And for three decades, essential maintenance of the irrigation network has been neglected.

On 2 December, the occupation of the dam ended after a conciliation meeting with the authorities, who ensured that the water from the reservoir must be allocated to only five municipalities surrounding the dam, including Troina, until the water capacity is below 400,000 cubic metres. Local authorities are pleased with the agreement reached, although they are aware that it will take more time to solve the crisis.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/13/the-water-war-how-drought-threatens-survival-of-sicilys-towns