The Italian water crisis: causes, scenarios, solutions

Filippo Verre - July 13, 2022

* L’immagine di copertina di questo report è stata presa dal sito AZoCleantech.com, consultabile al seguente link: https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1252

Until about fifteen years ago, the summer season was greeted in Italy with moderate jubilation by various segments of the population. The youngest, after about nine months of school, prepared to enjoy a well-deserved break of several weeks coinciding with the arrival of warmer weather. Adults, unable to take months of vacation, with the arrival of summer headed towards their long-awaited holidays. The older generations, given the closure of schools, had the opportunity to spend time with their children and grandchildren. In short, summers of some time ago were generally considered positive, almost as a goal to aim for after months of intense study and work. Certainly, the hot – but not torrid – climate that characterized the months of July and August caused inconveniences, especially in large cities. Alerts for the weakest segments of the population – children and the elderly first and foremost – were regularly issued, with the recommendation to stay hydrated as much as possible and to stay home during the hottest hours. However, in general, the summer of some time ago, with a few precautions, could be faced and even enjoyed by all segments of the population. Today, unfortunately, the reality is very different.

Climate Change, a phenomenon increasingly evident at various latitudes of our planet, has brought significant atmospheric and climatic changes to our summers. The latter are not as before a pleasant distraction or a longed-for vacation moment. Both in extension and intensity, recent summers in Italy are very different from the past. These are scorching bubbles that engulf and oppress everything, continuously from May to October. It is no coincidence that in our country there have been three droughts in the last ten years. The current water crisis that grips Italy is unfortunately in line with this trend that is discouraging to say the least; without a doubt, today's is the most serious crisis in recent years, especially due to the lack of rainfall in recent months that has dangerously depleted our fresh water reserves.

Given the new climate reality that, despite ourselves, we are forced to face, it would be appropriate to start considering summer water crises not as isolated and imponderable events but as recurring situations and, therefore, deserving of maximum attention and prevention. Planning adequate measures aimed at avoiding possible water supply crises could be a winning strategy for many Italian regions that are finding themselves in serious difficulty in these weeks. In fact, we are still at the beginning of summer, far from the month of October, when temperatures cool and the first autumn precipitations occur. The real risk is to arrive at the end of summer 2022 literally without water. Unfortunately, it is too late to hope for significant rainfall, capable of providing relief and restoring the water deficit accumulated since last winter. According to some experts, it should rain across the entire national territory for almost two weeks: impossible in summer. In the next 2/3 months, moreover, it is very likely that the situation will worsen further, given that, presumably, the torrid temperatures of July and, above all, of August, will contribute severely to the worsening of the current contingency, already critical in itself.

In this report, AB AQUA aims to develop a series of measures that could in the future avoid other serious water crises like the one we are experiencing in these weeks. Long and torrid summers are now an integral part of our ecosystem. We are slowly moving towards a subtropical climate in which winters, in addition to being not very rainy, are short and mild; summer periods, on the contrary, are increasingly longer and more aggressive. This new climatic reality must be addressed with correct environmental policies that avoid, as much as possible, circumstances similar to the difficult moment we are facing.

Water stress and drought. A very dangerous combination

The scorching heat that has hit Italy since the first days of May has contributed to a worsening of water stress which, in part, has caused the current supply crisis in many regions. The great heat of recent months has put entire territories to the test, where the water supply has been and still is very difficult. Just think, for example, of the very high evaporation rate of the water from artificial canals, often used to irrigate or supply reservoirs throughout Italy with the precious blue liquid. During the hottest hours of the day, the water that evaporates from the canals is really a lot, further depleting the already feeble water resources.

However, the aggressive temperatures are only partly responsible for today's serious situation. In fact, the origin of the crisis is not only the extraordinary heat of the spring season and June. The most significant factor was the low amount of water reserves we had when we entered the summer period. To use a war metaphor – sadly in fashion in this particular historical juncture – we went into battle with unloaded weapons and little ammunition.

Fig. 1: Il Po in secca, giugno 2022
https://www.ilpost.it/2022/06/16/po-siccita/

The winter was very dry and after a critical December 2021 especially in the North-West, January 2022 was overall one of the driest in our history. In concrete terms, the winter of 2021-2022 was the sixth driest in the last 63 years[1]. On average, in the winter season snowfall - essential in the "recharge" of our mountain water basins - stands between 10 and 12 meters, with peaks of over 15 meters in Piedmont. This year, in various parts of Northern Italy, there was no more than 4 meters of snow on a total winter basis and not in a single month. In Pian del Re, where the sources of the Po River are located, in the Cottian Alps of Piedmont last winter the meters of snow that fell were around three. Definitely too little to replenish the mountain water basins in view of the summer. Things did not go better as regards rainfall. With a temperature anomaly of + 0.8°C and a rainfall deficit of - 32% - equivalent to almost 16 billion cubic meters of water less - last autumn/winter represented the first phase of the serious water crisis into which we have fallen. The rainfall deficit of February, specifically, amounts to - 42% calculated for the whole of Italy, equal to almost 6 billion cubic meters of water less than normal. In short, during the winter season not only were there higher average temperatures that prevented snow from falling in quantity, but there was also less rainfall.

Fig. 2: Pian del Re, le sorgenti del Po
https://allemandich.it/trekking-al-pian-del-re/

To get a clear idea of ​​the amount of water in the form of precipitation that has been missing on our national territory, take a look at Graph 1. As can be seen, the imbalance between the average precipitation of the period 1991-2020 and that of the current year is really large, a tangible sign of how much the lack of water supply from rain and snow has negatively affected the summer season. In fact, despite the strong inconvenience for the population, if the expected precipitation occurs in winter, water crises are not usually recorded during the summer season. The worst moment occurs if, together with the very hot summer temperatures, there are few water reserves due to scarce autumn and winter precipitation. In this case, the mix is ​​potentially lethal.

Graf. 1: Deficit pluviometrico comparativo tra il periodo 1991-2020 e l’anno corrente
https://www.ilmessaggero.it/italia/siccita_emergenza_cosa_sta_succedendo_acqua_razionata_news_oggi-6771623.html?refresh_ce

As often happens in these difficult circumstances, when despite high temperatures there has been no abundant rainfall in the past months, large urban agglomerations are the most exposed to the obvious problems due to the heat and lack of water. In Graph 2, you can see the difficult situation of Lake Bracciano, an important lake basin from which the capital gets its water supplies. Lake Bracciano is particularly strategic for the municipality of Rome and the surrounding areas because it allows them to compensate for seasonal water demands. From this lake, the Acea group can withdraw up to 1,100 liters per second, and in exceptional conditions, up to maximum peaks of 5,000 liters per second. But the lake level has not yet recovered from the drought of 2017.

Graf. 2: Livello del Lago di Bracciano
https://www.iconaclima.it/italia/mesi-di-allarme-siccita-e-immobilita-politica-prepariamoci-ad-una-estate-2022-senzacqua/

Strategies to minimize the occurrence of water crises

As analyzed above, the scorching heat of our recent summers is not an unpleasant anomaly of recent times. We are now in a new climate phase characterized by very aggressive temperatures that remain stable for several months at all latitudes. Climate change also causes considerable damage during the autumn/winter season, given that the milder temperatures do not favor the abundant snowfall that could be indispensable in the event of a summer drought. It is therefore more evident than ever that there is a strong awareness that requires a series of logistical, bureaucratic and infrastructural strategies to deal with the major water and environmental problems that regularly occur in the hottest period.

Modernization of aqueducts

The Italian water network is very poor. These are now obsolete infrastructures with serious losses at all latitudes of the peninsula. Investments are needed to modernize the pipes, which are currently in truly precarious conditions. Consider that today we lose over 40% of the water that flows through our aqueducts through the holes in the pipes. About 42 liters out of every 100 on the way to the taps at home are irreparably lost, with serious damage especially in times of crisis like the one we are experiencing these days. The modernization of our aqueducts is already included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and includes an investment of 2 billion by 2026. It is not much, but it is a good starting point in view of the next water crises. The intervention envisaged by the PNRR is aimed at making the primary infrastructures for the supply of water intended for civil, agricultural, industrial and environmental uses more efficient and reliable, in order to guarantee the security of supply in all sectors.

Fig. 3: Le tubature, ormai obsolete e arrugginite, che portavano l’acqua a Olbia e in Gallura
https://www.olbia.it/olbia-e-gallura-ecco-le-tubature-arrugginite-che-portavano-lacqua

As can be seen by taking a quick look at Fig. 3, these old and rusty pipes are also a danger from a health point of view. The rust present in large quantities in almost all large Italian aqueducts, in addition to causing significant water losses, can be responsible for pathologies linked to poisoning or intoxication by iron. A series of large-scale renovations and modernizations are therefore urgently needed throughout the country aimed at making our water network more efficient and modern. It is hoped that the time needed to carry out these changes will be rapid in order to emerge from a situation of great difficulty regarding the water supply for mainly civil use. Also because, in the serious crisis we are facing, every litre of water saved represents a significant success. The time is ripe to make a strategic investment that concerns the entire national soil. We need to go beyond the so-called “emergency policy”, which is activated only in the event of a natural disaster and a fait accompli, and create a plan to secure national aqueducts to prevent, or at least alleviate, future water crises.

2. Construction of emergency aqueducts to prevent the excessive lowering of lakes and rivers

One of the main negative results of the dangerous combination of “drought & water crisis” is the sudden lowering of the level of reservoirs, lakes and rivers. As unfortunately witnessed by various journalistic reports, in recent weeks the level of the Po River – the main waterway in Northern Italy – has dropped by several meters. This has caused significant problems related to water supply for the municipalities located near the river, with numerous cases of real “dryness”, or lack of water for long stretches of its course, with considerable damage to agriculture. Even with regard to the main Italian lakes, the situation is not the rosiest. All large lake basins are suffering greatly, with cases of worrying lowering of the water in the order of several centimeters. In the past, to deal with these worrying cases of lowering of the water, the construction of a series of canals was proposed that, if necessary, could have conveyed the precious liquid from one basin to another depending on the need of the moment. However, the high rate of evaporation that occurs especially in the hot seasons has prevented the adoption of a strategy of this type. According to some calculations, up to 30% of the water transported in a canal can be subject to evaporation during the hot summer hours. This phenomenon, related to the so-called loss of irrigation efficiency, means that out of 100 liters, 30 are literally dissolved in the air; this is a serious waste in terms of water, especially during periods of crisis related to drought and difficulties in water supply.

In addition to evaporation, other phenomena contribute to the dispersion of water that passes through canals. Generally, the latter are built in concrete only when they are important connecting structures, which connect two large reservoirs or a river and a lake that guarantee the water supply for a large community of individuals. In these cases, evaporation is the main cause of water losses. Nonetheless, there are numerous canals – even of considerable size – that are built in earth. This material allows the dispersion by percolation [2] from the bottom and by exfiltration from the banks of considerable quantities of water both during the irrigation season and during the filling phase of the reservoirs. To this, we must add the aggressive and pervasive action of coypus, which contribute to the dispersion of considerable quantities of precious water present in the earth canals thanks to the deep tunnels that they dig with incessant abnegation [3].

If we consider a canal with a 10-meter wet perimeter with a soil permeability value of about 4 mm/hour (100 mm/day), we have a water dispersion of about 1 m³/day for each linear meter. This means that in a regular summer season of 90 days the losses correspond to about 90 m³ of water for each meter of earthen canal. Very significant numbers, especially if we take into account that our summers no longer last “simply” 90 days but can also reach 120, sometimes 150 days of intense heat.

Fig. 4: Lavori di manutenzione effettuati su un canale di terra
https://www.cataniatoday.it/cronaca/pulizia-canali-regione-siciliana-catania-16-settembre-2020.html

In Italy there are over 57,000 km of earth canals, both irrigated and mixed. According to water losses calculated on a regular summer basis - that is, if the season were only 90 days - there would be a dispersion of approximately 5 billion m³ of water, equal to 10% of the total water resource that passes through the earth canals. To this must be added the losses caused by the extensive and intricate network of illegal canals that companies often build to drain the water resulting from production processes. Combined with the greater number of summer days due to the increased aggressiveness of our summers, these data could cause water losses to rise to approximately 20% of the total resource present in the system.

Given this situation, it is clear that using earth canals to guarantee strategic supplies to reservoirs, lakes and rivers is not the optimal solution. There are two options left. Building concrete canals could be a valid alternative, even if there are environmental critical issues of no small importance. The spread of this type of canal would favor excessive concreting of many green areas of our country, in addition to not solving the issue of water evaporation during the hot hours of the summer season. To overcome this problem, modern aqueducts could be built that connect areas rich in water with areas where supply crises often occur. The mechanism could be similar to a giant tap that would be activated only when needed by specialized technicians who, once they have obtained the necessary authorizations, release tens of millions of m³ of water into the reservoir, lake or river in difficulty. In this way, there would be no problems of evaporation, massive concreting or loss of irrigation efficiency due to cases of percolation and exfiltration. On the contrary, a real emergency supply would be ensured to be used only in case of absolute necessity.

3. Designing ultramodern and multifunctional canals

One solution to the problem of evaporation could be to create long covered canals to prevent the action of the sun and wind - another agent responsible for the dissolution of water in the air - from dispersing the precious blue liquid. However, the covers on the canals would not only have the simple yet essential function of protecting the flowing water, but would also act as a flywheel to channel energy from the sun. This would involve installing photovoltaic panels above the water canals. This is a project that has already found various areas of application, especially in India and North America. In this regard, the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) has announced Project Nexus, a pilot project to build solar panel canopies on a portion of the existing TID canals to create a truly innovative, multi-benefit structure, in which the water-energy nexus can help California push towards water and climate resilience.

Fig. 5: Impianto da 100 MW installato lungo il canale del fiume Narmada, Gujarat, India
https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/whats-viral/gujarat-norwegian-diplomat-praises-solar-panel-installation-on-canal-implement-them-articleshow.html

The presence of photovoltaic panels covering the canal would have several positive effects. First, as mentioned above, it would reduce water evaporation as a result of shade and wind mitigation. Second, there would be an improvement in water quality through reduced vegetative growth. The lack of sun would not facilitate the spread of plants that usually also infest concrete canals. Third, the reduced presence of unwanted vegetation would reduce the maintenance costs of the canal, which would be much cleaner and less exposed to vegetative proliferation. Finally, the solar panels would be able to generate renewable electricity to be used in ways to be established, including solar-powered pumps.

According to the scientific article Energy and water co-benefits from covering canals with solar panels, published in “Nature Sustainability” and written by researchers at the University of California, systems built in this way would guarantee the optimization of the performance of the panels, the protection of the water contained in the canals and obviously the possibility of using widely available and easy-to-use surfaces[4]. The Californian researchers are optimistic that the next step will soon be to set up pilot projects or field experiments on some branches of the Californian water canals, which amount to about 6,400 km. A business that, given the extension of the network of canals and the relative surfaces available, could lead to a new field of application for photovoltaic technology, in California as well as in other countries around the world.

In Italy, it would be possible to identify a few canals, initially of short-medium length, on which to test this new approach and verify whether the conditions and benefits found in California exist. It could be the first step towards a real revolution that would involve the design of next-generation ducts.

Fig. 6: Proiezione del Project Nexus in California
https://www.tid.org/about-tid/current-projects/project-nexus/

4. Promote institutional collaboration between the institutions involved

In the event of an emergency, close collaboration between public authorities and local institutions would be desirable to try to resolve as quickly and efficiently as possible the great inconveniences that the civilian population is often forced to suffer during water crises. Only through a joint approach and a shared strategy can important results be achieved in a short time. However, it is precisely during the most problematic phases, when collaboration becomes an essential element to bring home the result, that the institutions hide behind dangerous localisms. In the past few weeks, we have witnessed phenomena of worrying selfishness that have negatively characterized the relationships between regions and municipalities affected by the drought. Both in Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy - two of the most affected regions - there have been cases of real "water selfishness", in which the authorities of various municipalities have proven to be extremely reluctant to share their water resources with others.

In truth, phenomena of institutional failure to cooperate during environmental crises often occur in other areas of the world as well. From a water perspective, AB AQUA dealt with a similar situation during the Cape Town crisis[5]. In 2018, the South African metropolis experienced a situation very similar to what is happening in our country for several weeks. Months and months of drought, combined with prolonged periods of total absence of rainfall, brought the economic capital of the African state to the brink of the abyss. The water crisis was exacerbated by political tensions between the central government and the municipality of Cape Town, which belonged to opposing sides. The Democratic Alliance, a political opposition organisation to the governing party – the African National Congress (ANC) – had been administering the city since 2006 and the province since 2009 with a clearly different vision to the national government. This administrative dichotomy not only did not help coordinate a joint strategy during times of crisis, but actually made the situation worse given the continuous passing of the buck between the two institutions.

Cape Town's serious water crisis was resolved only thanks to the providential intervention of an extra-political actor: rain. The abundant spring rainfall that occurred between the end of April and the first weeks of May 2018 resolved a truly dramatic situation. As reported in our report, the city was on the brink of social revolts, inter-ethnic tensions and bitter clashes with the police due to the very severe measures that the authorities had taken to minimize the consumption of water for non-essential uses. What is happening in these weeks in Italy is very reminiscent of what happened in South Africa only four years ago. Except that, barring miraculous summer storms, regular rainfall in our territory is only expected in 2/3 months. Since, presumably, the worst is yet to come with the aggressive heat of August, a close collaboration between local and national authorities is highly desirable to deal with the serious inconveniences that the lack of water will cause to all segments of the population and to the national production machine, already severely tested by the pandemic, war, drought and inflation.

5. Increase the use of desalination plants to quickly obtain water from the sea

A relatively low-cost and rapid way to obtain water in case of need is desalination, a process that makes marine water resources available for agricultural and industrial uses. Again, AB AQUA has addressed the issue with ad hoc studies[6]. Given the shortage of fresh water and the great abundance of salt water that is easily available on the national territory, in this emergency situation we believe that it is time to increase our production of desalinated water resources. Among other things, the crisis is currently so serious that the sea has risen from the Po estuary inland for over 30 km, a truly worrying fact. Given this situation, there does not seem to be much time left. We must implement all the tools to deal with a crisis that is becoming more serious every day.

Extracting fresh water from the sea could allow us to irrigate fields without draining faults and avoiding the rise of brackish water along river mouths. Many countries use desalination plants with great intensity. This is the case, for example, of Saudi Arabia, where the massive use of desalination has completely transformed entire areas of the large Middle Eastern nation from desert to fertile land. Saudi Arabia's water policies are very interesting from the desalination point of view. We have dealt with it in the past and already several months ago[7] we noted the great changes that the increase in water resources has caused on the Saudi economy and society. Desalination plants have had such a high impact that Riyadh now, in addition to no longer importing food from abroad, exports agricultural products and flowers to the Horn of Africa and throughout Southeast Asia. The Saline Water Conversion Corporation, the world’s largest desalination company, is Saudi, a clear sign of how the scientific process that transforms seawater into fresh water is at the basis of Riyadh’s socioeconomic growth.

Fig. 7: Logo della Saline Water Conversion Corporation
https://www.swcc.gov.sa/en

To stay in Europe, on the subject of desalination, let's refer to Spain, a country that for many years has experienced severe water crises in the southern regions during the hot seasons. Madrid makes extensive use of desalination plants. According to some reports[8], Spain is currently in fourth place in the world for installed capacity after Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. According to the most up-to-date data available from AEDyR[9] – Asociaciòn Española de Desalaciòn y Reutilizaciòn – the Iberian country currently produces approximately 5,000,000 m³/day of desalinated water for supply, irrigation and industrial use. This is a very significant number, which helps to lighten the water load on Spanish reservoirs during the long summer season.

Fig. 8: Logo dell’Asociaciòn Española de Desalaciòn y reutilizaciòn
https://aedyr.com/cifras-desalacion-espana/

The virtuous examples of Saudi Arabia and Spain on the use of industrial desalination processes should make us think. Italy, despite being literally surrounded by the sea for most of its territory, only resorts to desalination sporadically. The reasons for this submissive strategy are many but, for the most part, there are environmental and bureaucratic reasons. A medium-sized desalination plant costs around 15 million euros and produces around 2.5 million m³ of drinking water every year, with annual management costs of around half a million. To this must be added the costs of disposing of brine, a polluting waste material resulting from the transformation of salt water into fresh water. Therefore, obtaining fresh water from the sea requires energy and produces various industrial waste that must be adequately disposed of. This entails a series of costs both from an economic and industrial point of view that must be taken into consideration.

From a bureaucratic perspective, it should be noted that recent environmental protection laws have put a brake on the proliferation of desalination plants in our territory. Specifically, the Salvamare Law, beyond its many merits, has established that desalination plants intended for the production of water for human consumption are permitted only in exceptional cases. And the law was published last May, in the midst of a drought emergency. The exceptions to the rule concern conditions of "proven water shortage and lack of economically sustainable alternative drinking water sources", in cases where "the plants are foreseen in the sector plans for water and in particular in the area plan also on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis" and only after having demonstrated "that the appropriate interventions have been carried out to significantly reduce losses from the aqueduct network and to rationalize the use of the water resource foreseen by the sector planning". These limitations are followed by that of the environmental impact assessment; the authorizations are no longer granted by the regions as has been done up to now but by a special ministerial commission that gives the “green light” to the construction of the plant. It is essentially an infinite bureaucratic process that in fact significantly slows down any progress in this direction, especially in a period of serious crisis like the current one in which we would need maximum administrative speed.

Conclusion

The serious Italian water crisis, exacerbated by a severe drought, requires a strong awareness on the part of the authorities. New structures, new evaluation paradigms and a different approach to emergency situations are needed. The great heat that has been arriving regularly for some years now during the summer season represents the main "enemy" to fight when dealing with water supply crises. If, in addition to the scorching temperatures, mild winters and scarce rainfall are combined, a real "perfect storm" can be triggered that can bring society, the production system and the economy of our country to their knees. In this report AB AQUA has identified five short/medium term strategies that could contribute to improving the situation between now and the next summers and to permanently reverse the trend as regards water supply.

Unlike other nations, including European ones such as Spain, for example, Italy has historically never suffered excessively from water crises. Our water tables are rich in water and at every latitude of the long peninsula there are various rivers and streams capable of offering the precious "blue gold" in case of need. Furthermore, the presence of mountains along the entire Italian peninsula, from Piedmont to Calabria with a situation of almost total continuity, has guaranteed vast water reserves in the form of snow that flows into the waterways directed towards the valley. The abundant precipitations that characterize, as a rule, our winters have often guaranteed the water requirement for the summer seasons. Important areas in which, often, problems related to water supply have occurred are Sicily and Sardinia. Our two large islands, especially during the summer, often suffer serious inconveniences related to the lack of water. In reality, the main reason for this unpleasant situation is due to the presence of aqueducts even more inefficient and obsolete than the continent that waste many liters of water. Unfortunately, it is a common feature of all islands - not only the Italian ones - where there is a lack of adequate water infrastructure, especially in the summer period with the dramatic increase in population due to the tourist season. However, overall, if we exclude the summer cases relating to Sicily and Sardinia, Italy is a country rich in water in which the problems related to supply crises represent fairly recent phenomena, if not new.

Nonetheless, the third water crisis in ten years represents an incontrovertible fact that deserves to be taken into maximum consideration. The recent tragedy of the Marmolada, caused by the now evident melting of the ice, incontrovertibly testifies to the progressive warming of the planet, the effects of which have been visible for some time now at various latitudes and not only in Italy. This requires the adoption of drastic measures that avoid serious drought phenomena such as today's crisis. The measures that have been indicated in this report have been designed to compensate in the event of low winter rainfall. In fact, very little can be done to alleviate the discomfort and serious damage that torrid temperatures cause to plants, soils, humans and animals. However, a wiser management of resources, combined with greater institutional collaboration and new infrastructures can certainly guarantee a rapid and efficient response to the possible new water crises that we will have to face in the years to come.

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[1] https://www.iconaclima.it/italia/mesi-di-allarme-siccita-e-immobilita-politica-prepariamoci-ad-una-estate-2022-senzacqua/.

[2] Per percolazione si intende il lento movimento di un fluido attraverso un materiale poroso. Nel caso di un canale di terra, materiale poroso per eccellenza, la percolazione è un fenomeno che disperde molta quantità d’acqua che dal fondo o dagli argini fuoriesce dal canale.

[3] https://www.informatoreagrario.it/filiere-produttive/perdite-di-efficienza-irrigua-un-problema-da-risolvere/.

[4] Per ulteriori informazioni si rimanda al seguente link: https://www.hwupgrade.it/news/scienza-tecnologia/pannelli-fotovoltaici-sopra-i-canali-idrici-della-california-accoppiata-vincente_96566.html.

[5] A questo link è possibile consultare il paper relativo alla crisi idrica di Città del Capo: https://abaqua.it/la-crisi-idrica-di-citta-del-capo-2018-una-lezione-da-non-dimenticare/.

[6] Nello specifico, ci siamo occupati della dissalazione in questo paper: “Dissalazione: dubbi ecologici e prospettive future”, reperibile al seguente link https://abaqua.it/dissalazione-dubbi-ecologici-e-prospettive-future/.

[7] A questo link (https://abaqua.it/le-politiche-idriche-dellarabia-saudita/) è reperibile il nostro report “Le politiche idriche dell’Arabia Saudita”.

[8] Il report è consultabile al seguente link: https://www.iconaclima.it/italia/mesi-di-allarme-siccita-e-immobilita-politica-prepariamoci-ad-una-estate-2022-senzacqua/.

[9] https://aedyr.com/cifras-desalacion-espana/.