Italy turns to infrastructure amid drought to protect its blue gold

Drought is an increasing challenge, both in the world and Italy. According to the United Nations, this phenomenon has caused 650,000 deaths in the last fifty years. Rising global temperatures are becoming a constant threat everywhere, also endangering regions and countries that have, so far, been safe from these dangers. This is also happening in Italy. Despite its natural water wealth, the country faces a gradual but constant reduction in rainfall and a rise in temperatures.

Historical data confirms these statements: between 2001 and 2020, the duration of drought periods in Italy increased by 34% compared to the period between 1961 and 1990. Many regions are affected, and it’s not just the southern regions paying the highest price for climate change. According to ISTAT data, over half of Piedmont’s territory is affected by drought, while Veneto is the least affected region in Italy, with only 9.8% of its territory impacted.

However, the southern regions are undoubtedly the most severely impacted by water scarcity. In recent weeks, cities like Palermo and Trapani in Sicily have faced water access issues, while in Calabria, Governor Roberto Occhiuto declared a state of emergency for the territories of Reggio Calabria and Crotone. Record heat, accompanied by the absence of precipitation, is severely testing citizens and businesses, while the only solution to the problem remains the modernization of infrastructure, essential for protecting and efficiently managing existing water.

The answer to the demand for new infrastructure can only come from the PNRR. The National Plan provides that part of the financial resources made available by the European Union be directed precisely to the development of water infrastructure. To date, the PNRR contains four measures that, overall, involve investments totaling €4.3 billion.

Two billion are earmarked for the construction of new water infrastructures, among which reservoirs; €900 million for the maintenance and modernization of networks to reduce losses; over €800 million for the enhancement and modernization of the irrigation system serving the agricultural sector; and €600 million for the purification of wastewater that will be reused for agricultural purposes.

However, the financial coverage for the construction of new works can only be truly effective if the strategic interventions to be carried out are identified precisely, namely those that have a profound and immediate effect on solving the problem.

The challenge against drought can only be won with the help of modern and efficient infrastructure, which plays a crucial role in combating the water emergency. Whether dams, treatment plants, pipe networks, or reservoirs for water collection, their role remains strategic and ensures a series of valuable results for the community.

The first of the necessary interventions is to increase the resilience of water systems, i.e., designing new infrastructure to withstand climate change and ensure a stable water supply. The second is to increase the number of reservoirs collecting water, to store more rainwater and mitigate the harmful effects of drought. Then, intervening in the water transport network to minimize losses and leaks, and finally, better reusing wastewater, turning waste from households and businesses into a resource that can be treated and reused for irrigation and industrial purposes.

One of the most effective techniques to exploit water even where it is most scarce is desalination, which allows transforming salty seawater into drinking water. Desalination plants are now present worldwide, especially in the driest areas. Fisia Italimpianti, a subsidiary of the Webuild Group specializing in the sector, has built numerous plants that today ensure water supply to about 20 million people. Italy, on its part, is still very behind in this technological application. The country has 340 small desalination plants, representing just 0.1% of the national freshwater withdrawal. Most of these serve mainly the industrial sector, not the citizens.

This is why, in the past, the Webuild Group launched the “Water for Life” project, aiming to raise awareness among institutions about the need to invest in building new desalination plants, a modern and sustainable way to prevent the country from running out of blue gold. Concurrently, a series of field interventions were carried out, such as the one in the plain of Catania, where the Sicilian blood orange is cultivated. Here, on the construction sites for the new railway line connecting Catania to Palermo, the Webuild Group intervened on the existing water network, replacing 20 kilometers of old pipes with new, modern, and zero-leak systems.