Drought in Italy: how to tackle water shortages

Water is the primary source of life on Earth, as we have learned since we were children at school. The dramatic water scarcity that we are experiencing in Italy more and more often as the years go by is, however, a fact for which we are dramatically unprepared.

2020 was the year of a very serious drought alert that went almost unnoticed, overshadowed by news about the Covid-19 pandemic. It was, in fact, the year in which Italy saw 23.4 billion cubic meters of freshwater go missing, a fundamental reserve for all human activities (and primarily for agriculture). A water crisis of enormous proportions, the likes of which had not been seen in Italy for about sixty years.

2021 was no better: last summer saw exceptional heatwaves both in Europe and in the rest of the world (just think of the 49.5°C reached in Canada at the end of June), a trend that certainly did not leave the Boot unscathed. Water is becoming an increasingly rare commodity, and according to experts, it will be by far the most precious resource in a future dominated by climate change.

The causes of water scarcity

But what does water scarcity depend on? An easy “culprit” can be found in global warming, which triggers chain reactions that reduce an already limited water supply: while it is true that 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, it is equally true that 97.5% of the water available on Earth is salt water unusable for human activities.

Of the remaining 2.5%, about 70% is locked in glaciers and polar ice caps. Only a few calculations are needed to realize that only 0.75% of the total consists of the freshwater necessary for the survival of all living beings.

The effects of human activities: global warming and water crisis

Global warming threatens the balance that regulates the limited water supply we have discussed: the melting of glaciers affects the quantity and type of precipitation, making it increasingly common to see rivers run dry during the summer and then suffer real-life water bombs during the rainy season.

In addition to the increase in average temperatures and its consequences, human activities create other harmful effects on the water balance: the deforestation of land intended for agricultural use deprives the soil of the cover provided by trees, which is essential for retaining moisture and slowing evaporation. As if that weren’t enough, agriculture (especially that of crops intended to feed livestock) consumes about 70% of the freshwater on the planet.

Drought in Italy and the risk of desertification: causes and effects

To these causes affecting the entire planet, Italy adds specific circumstances related to the state of its infrastructure and the consumption habits of its population. Italians are, in fact, one of the peoples with the highest per capita water consumption within the European Union, second only to Greece.

To household water waste is added that related to poor infrastructure maintenance: it is estimated that 42% of the available water never reaches its destination, being needlessly dissipated due to leaks caused by the state of the aqueducts.

This combination of causes makes Italy an increasingly arid and thirsty country, as well as one of the most susceptible to progressive desertification in the coming decades.

What is desertification?

When we talk about desertification, we mean the progressive transformation of a fertile area into a desert zone, that is, the reduction or destruction of the soil’s capacity to produce resources. This process can occur naturally due to geological or climatic causes, but obviously over very long periods. The desertification we are talking about now, however, is directly linked to human intervention, which through wild deforestation and intensive agriculture impoverishes the soils by depriving them of their properties.

Consequently, the causes of desertification in Italy are easy to identify: increasingly prolonged droughts, high temperatures, and the continuous consumption of fertile land for construction purposes are increasingly drying out a beautiful but highly vulnerable territory.

What solutions to combat drought in Italy?

Now that we have a clear understanding of the causes of the water shortage afflicting our country (and not only), what can we do to improve things?

The first solution that each of us can implement concerns the adoption of responsible behaviors regarding water use. Limiting household waste is an essential step to protect the resource on which our survival depends. We at BotanicalDryGarden have always paid close attention to this aspect, and in our own small way, we work to promote a realistic and concrete change in perspective, a new attitude that every green lover can adopt to manage water in their garden as best as possible.

The dry philosophy and the fight against water waste: our commitment

BotanicalDryGarden is located in the heart of the Tuscan Maremma, an area where drought is felt particularly intensely. We were founded in 1994 as Mates Piante, a nursery specializing in Mediterranean plants, and for about 15 years we managed to find a balance by best matching our water needs with the availability of a beautiful but decidedly water-scarce territory. In 2010, after seeing summers become increasingly dry, we decided to bet on a resilient strategy. For this reason, we decided to specialize our activity by focusing on plants and lawns with low water needs: that of adopting the dry philosophy is the choice that gave birth to BotanicalDryGarden, the first dry botanical garden in Italy.

Our activity is based on the choice of plants that have naturally evolved to adapt to climates characterized by long weeks of drought. We chose not to force nature by incorporating species unsuitable for our climate, but rather to adapt to it through hardy and resistant plants. Over the years, we have selected over 1,500 different species to include in our 4-hectare park: an experiment to show anyone who visits us that it is possible to create high-quality landscaping sustainably, creating beautiful gardens that require 1 or 2 waterings throughout the year.