ROME (HRNW) – Italy is wasting more and more of its water from leaky aqueducts, leaving the country increasingly vulnerable to droughts, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Tuesday.
Scientists and environmental groups sounded the alarm about Italian water shortages in January, after a sharp drop in snowfall was recorded on the Alps and unusually low tides left Venice’s canals dry.
In a report published ahead of Wednesday’s World Water Day, ISTAT said that in 2020, the most recent data available, Italy’s aqueducts had lost 42.2% of the water they carried.
That was the highest proportion on record, ISTAT said, despite repeated pledges by governments of all stripes to resolve the problem.
In 2008, the water leakage was 10 percentage points lower.
“A town in four has water losses above 55% and in five areas out of seven the leaks are increasing,” ISTAT researcher Simona Ramberti told reporters in presenting the report.