Terrible Drought in Italy

Italy is experiencing the most severe drought in the last 70 years. The largest and most important river in the country has partially dried up due to the heat. The Po River, which is the largest in Italy, continues to dry up.

The water shortage is devastating farmers' crops; areas where the river flowed just a few months ago now resemble a desert. In some sections of the river, salty seawater is intruding into the streams, harming the crops. The current drought in northern Italy is considered the worst in the past 70 years. The causes include a lack of rain in spring and summer, absence of snow in winter, and high summer temperatures.

“The salty water is destroying the crops, which cannot withstand such a concentration of salt,” says one of the farmers. He estimates that this year, a farmer could lose about a quarter of their yield.

A state of emergency has been declared in five regions of northern Italy due to the drought. In dozens of communities, water rationing has been implemented.

The Po River stretches 650 km across northern Italy, from the southwestern Alps to the Adriatic Sea. The life of many local communities revolves around it, and it is connected to nearly one-third of Italy's agricultural sector.