Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – "After fifty years of data and observations, we can say that for our peninsula, for the Mediterranean, and for Western Europe, climate change" has been "for the worse. The shift in rainfall patterns, resulting in droughts or intense rainfall, with the resulting damage, is leading to changes in our approach to water resources and protection from hydrogeological risks."
Marco Casini, AUBAC Secretary General, said this today in his participation in the Adnkronos Q&A entitled 'Sustainability, the new key words' in Rome.
"The first change," Casini explains, "is cultural. We're realizing that water isn't something we can take for granted. It's about doing what we haven't done for years, like water management. I'm referring to maintenance and leaks.
Today we've reached 42,4% nationwide; in the 90s, losses were 27%. Repairing the networks isn't an adaptation measure; it's something that should have been done from the beginning, but today the climate makes it absolutely essential." Another activity involves diversifying sources. "85% of the water we use," Casini observes, "is drawn from the subsoil, so they are underground reserves.
Today, with groundwater under pressure, we need to start thinking concretely about reuse, desalination, and therefore diversifying our sources. This is an example of adaptation. If it rains intermittently or very heavily, I have to increase the reservoirs to collect the water." On an agricultural level, the issue isn't just about "irrigation efficiency, but also about the crops I can afford in a given location."
Regarding hydrogeological risk, Casini urges us to "rethink the urban center model, with so-called sponge cities, thus increasing soil permeability and retaining water to prevent flooding. The key is to manage water resources to prevent them from becoming an emergency, whether due to insufficient water or flooding all at once. In this regard," he notes, "basin authorities can help overcome administrative limitations. Water knows no borders; a river flows through multiple regions, provinces, and municipalities. The central authority coordinates seven regions, 900 municipalities, and 22 provinces—a vast area. We are doing a lot." Risk management begins "first and foremost with knowledge," he clarifies, "and then with prevention. Knowledge means identifying the current danger areas for the territories, because the maps we had, that we have, do not correspond to reality for various reasons. We are remapping the entire territory, but with today's digital tools, therefore through sophisticated hydraulic models, to identify and simulate the danger areas. The most important challenge," he concludes, "is to have risk management tools. This also facilitates the financing and implementation of more effective interventions."
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