Water, an unprotected common good

I am 52 million people in Europe living in areas considered to be under water stress for at least one month a year:of these, 28%, approximately 15 million, are located in Italy.The trend is worsening, and these numbers are destined to grow in the coming years.According to the United Nations Mediterranean Programme, water demand will double or even triple by 2050.World Water Day is celebrated on March 22nd, established in 1992:every year we talk about the importance of protecting this fundamental resource, but then the data we find before our eyes are increasingly worrying.

The water crisis is not coming.It's already here

“We continue to address the water issue with an emergency approach:little is said about the importance of protecting this common good, except when it is in short supply", says Stefania Di Vito of the scientific office of Legambiente, an expert in the uses of water resources.“Public discourse is too centered on the logic of accumulation:there is a lot of talk about desalination plants and reservoirs, to accumulate more water, while what would be needed is a change in our usage model.We don't need more water to use, we need to use less, and better."

The Mediterranean is a global climate change hotspot:the data shows rapid change in key indicators such as temperatures, rainfall, sea level and the availability of surface and groundwater resources.In 2022 the level of water availability in Italy was the lowest in the last hundred years, with 30% less rainfall:the Italian Meteorological Society has it defined a year "among the most extreme ever recorded in terms of heat and rainfall deficit".According to data fromCittàClima Observatory of Legambiente, cases of damage due to drought increased by 367%, going from 6 in 2021 to 28 in 2022.

In a historical period in which climate change is becoming increasingly evident, putting the quantity and quality of water available at risk, an acceleration in changing the way we manage this precious resource is necessary.Yet the waste of drinking water due to leaks in aqueducts continues, so much so that every year they are lost more than 3 billion of cubic meters of water.

A dashboard to analyze the state of waters in Italy

To monitor where we are today in our country, OBCT/Center for International Cooperation has created the dashboard Along the waterways, which makes open data available from multiple sources:To make the numbers easier to understand and consult, interactive maps have been created, which start from some crucial indicators for analyzing the change taking place.

Through the surveys collected by Ispra, for each of the Italian provinces it is possible to study the variations of different parameters, calculating the difference between the average of the period 1951-1980 and that of the period 1993-2022.One of the most emblematic parameters is water availability, i.e. the difference between the total influx of water to the soil and the actual level of evaporation and transpiration:in the last thirty years, water availability in Italy has reduced by 20%.The provinces with the most worrying data are found in Sardinia:the worst situation was recorded in Sassari, with -33%, followed by Nuoro (-32%), South Sardinia (-30%) and Oristano (-28%).

The mechanism that leads to the decline in water availability is simple:it rains less, temperatures are higher, and water evaporation and transpiration consequently increase.The data confirms this trend:average annual rainfall is decreasing, and in some provinces it reaches alarming figures.In the province of Pistoia, the difference between the average annual rainfall of the period 1951-1980 and that of the period 1993-2022 is 166 mm of rain which falls less each year, followed by the province of Varese (-154 mm), Cosenza ( -143 mm), Frosinone (-142 mm) and Novara (-139 mm).

At the same time, temperatures are rising, and in this case too they do so unevenly across the national territory.The greatest variation was recorded in northern Italy:the most worrying increase was recorded in the province of Aosta, where in forty years it reached +1.9° C.Then we find the provinces of Bolzano, Sondrio and Turin, with a +1.7° C, and the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province with a +1.6%.The heat favors the evaporation and transpiration of water, and in fact at a geographical level there is consistency in the findings:the provinces in which evapotranspiration was greatest were again Aosta (+91 mm of evaporated water), Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (+82 mm), Bolzano (+80 mm), Sondrio (+77 mm) and Trento ( +72mm).

The result is a significant increase in drought events.But drought is a problem that occurs patchily and affects different areas depending on the periods:this can be seen by analyzing the data distributed by European Drought Observatory of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.During 2023 there is a very rapid evolution of drought events, which changes month by month:the "red zone" is located in the south and north-west in January, then extends to all of northern Italy in spring, until it involves practically the entire national territory in autumn.

Then there are the data published byDrought Observatory of the National Research Council, which show that in Italy 2023 was the second warmest year since 1800, immediately after 2022, the worst year ever.The most critical situation is on the islands:in Sardinia, at the beginning of 2024 the reservoirs were only about 50% full, so much so that the Central Sardinia Reclamation Consortium banned the use of water for irrigation.In Sicily, drought and high temperatures have forced several municipalities to ration water, so much so that last week the region he approved the state of emergency until December 31st in six provinces - Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna, Messina, Palermo and Trapani.Apart from a few rare exceptions, it has not rained on the island for months and the consequences of the lack of water are now evident:artificial lakes are empty, many rivers are dry and farmers are unable to irrigate their fields.

Public policies and citizens' opinion

The dashboard does not limit itself to analyzing environmental aspects, but also considers the relationship between public water, water infrastructure and local administration policies.In Italy, one of the biggest problems is in fact that of water waste due to an obsolete water infrastructure and poor maintenance interventions:when a major pipe breaks, puddles in the streets or temporary flooding are created, but in most cases these are small leaks that are reabsorbed by the ground and go undetected.Thanks to the data collected by Istat it is possible to evaluate how much water loss amounts to in the various Italian provinces, and the data are not comforting:in 27 out of 107 provinces, more than half of the water is lost.In this case the worst data is recorded in the province of Latina, where 74% of the total water passing through the water network is wasted, followed by Belluno (71%), Frosinone (69%), L'Aquila (68 %) and Chieti (64%).But even the most "virtuous" provinces still present critical data:the best result is that of the Milan area, where "only" 18% of the water from the public network is wasted, then come the provinces of Aosta, Ravenna and Ascolti Piceno, where 24% of the water is lost, or almost a quarter of the total.

In addition to the problem of the sieve water network, there is the issue of the lack of waste water treatment.In many municipalities the systems are old, not maintained, and in some cases they are not there at all.So much so that in Italy more than one person in 60 lives in a municipality without sewerage."I am almost 300 municipalities without an urban wastewater purification service”, explains Stefania Di Vito.“In fact, 40 don't even have a public sewerage service.The problem affects millions of inhabitants and has repercussions on public health and the environment."For having disregarded the directive European Union on urban wastewater treatment, the Commission has launched several infringement procedures against Italy.“For this non-compliance, the first requests for financial sanctions began,” continues Di Vito.“This means that we will lose public money, money that could be invested in adapting the systems.”

The dashboard also addresses the issue of the complex relationship between citizens and public water.Using data collected through a survey of Istat of 2022, we discover people's opinions on topics such as the presence or absence of water disruptions or the quality of public water.Even today, almost one in three Italians (29%) do not trust drinking tap water.The percentage varies greatly from region to region and the greatest problems are found in the south and on the islands:in Sicily it reaches 62%, in Calabria 51%, in Sardinia 49%.In other regions, especially in the north, the percentages are much lower:in Trentino-Alto Adige those who do not trust drinking tap water are just over 2%, while in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Valle d'Aosta the percentage is 12%.The same territorial inequalities are found among those who complain about irregularities in the supply of water:the national average is 10%, but in regions such as Calabria, Sicily and Abruzzo it reaches 41%, 33% and 22% respectively.

Finally, there is the analysis of how satisfied citizens are with the quality of the water they have access to and with the distribution service.In Italy, 14% of citizens say they are "not at all" or "slightly" satisfied with the public water service, a relatively low percentage which however rises to 41% in Calabria, 32% in Sicily and 29% in Abruzzo.Again, maximum satisfaction is found in Bolzano (2%) and Trento (4%).With respect to water quality, 23% of Italians are "not at all" or "slightly" satisfied, but the percentage is much higher in the island and southern regions (Calabria 43%, Sicily 40%, Sardinia 33%).A patchy Italy, therefore, where the right to access quality water is not guaranteed in the same way for everyone.

Towards a systemic approach to water management

The project the dashboard is part of, “Along the waterways:environment, culture, quality of life to educate global citizenship”, also lives outside of statistics and the internet.To create widespread awareness in the territories on the need to protect water as a common good, three educational communities have been activated in Rovereto, Cuneo and Mantua, municipalities that are committed to sustainable water management from a g-local and inclusive perspective.In particular, training was carried out for public administrators, teachers, journalists and third sector operators, an awareness campaign was launched and two editions of the Civic Week were organised, which sees schools as protagonists in a series of events that revolve around the themes of responsible water management.

“For sustainable management of a vital resource like water, it is necessary to adopt a systemic and integrated approach,” explains Stefania Di Vito of Legambiente.“To reduce our water footprint, we must first change our water use model, first and foremost lowering demand.We still use drinking water when it is not necessary:let's think for example about flushing toilets in bathrooms, or about irrigation.The quality of the water must be suitable for use:this is why we should work, for example, on rainwater recovery in the city.And then there is the whole issue of modernizing the water network, to avoid waste and losses."

The “Drought Decree” arrives late and creates more problems than solutions

“We should focus on making the integrated water cycle more efficient, not only for civil uses, but also for agricultural and industrial uses:the key is to invest in the recycling and reuse of water, with a view to circularity", concludes Di Vito.“Now that the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC, ed) has been definitively approved, we need to get to work:all human activities must be rethought from an optimization perspective, for the protection of a vital resource such as water".

Preview image via London School of Economics