The European Drought Observatory confirms the serious water situation that is affecting large areas of the Mediterranean basin (island regions of Italy, Algeria, Morocco, South-Eastern Spain, including the Balearic Islands); the same Observatory indicates that 16.1% of Europe is now threatened by severe drought, but 1.2% is already in full alarm: the Spanish Murcia, the Valencian Region, Mallorca, and Sicily. In Iberian Catalonia, where it has not rained considerably in three years, restrictions on civil water use have already been imposed, while Moroccan reservoirs are only 23.2% full (31.5% in the dry winter of 2023) due to a 70% rainfall shortfall. In our country, the two largest islands are already facing limitations in agricultural water resource use, but the exceptionally high temperatures, scarcity of precipitation, and lack of snow along the Apennine ridge are quickly drawing a state of serious water suffering for the peninsular regions, which is more pronounced in the south but is spreading to the centre. Critical concerns are also emerging in the northern areas, including in various Piedmontese basins, Liguria, and eastern Emilia Romagna. Things are looking brighter in the North-East, where, despite mild temperatures, January rainfall was above average, and snow cover in the Dolomites and Pre-Alps is typical, particularly in Veneto.
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