AGRIGENTO, Italy (AP) — Lakes have dried up and fields are parched in Sicily, but water still gushes out in abundance for tourists.
After a year with almost no rain on the Italian island, the fountains in Agrigento’s famous archaeological park are still flowing and the pools lined with hotels are overflowing.
Like many Mediterranean islands, people on Sicily are used to long periods without rain, but human-induced climate change has made the weather more erratic, and droughts can be longer and more frequent. The islanders are trying to survive as they have for decades — storing as much water as possible in cisterns and using tankers to transport it — and they’re doing it so well that visitors don’t notice the difference. But this year, the drought has gotten so bad that it’s putting residents at even greater risk, even as water continues to flow to hotels and tourist attractions.
Resilience in a dry year
The drought is punishing. The local water basin authority has imposed strict water restrictions on about a million residents (allowed only two to four hours a week) to help them get through the summer. And on Friday, the first Italian navy tanker ship arrived to deliver 12 million litres (3.2 million gallons) of water to the hardest-hit residents.
But Agrigento residents are among Italy’s most drought-resistant, and despite rationing they manage their businesses, hotels, guesthouses and homes without showering, neglecting their gardens or closing their swimming pools.
“Nobody copes better with water shortages than the southern Sicilians,” said Salvatore Cocina, the head of local civil protection, who has the difficult task of coordinating the little water left on the island.
Water scarcity is nothing new, as southern Sicily’s land doesn’t hold much water and aqueducts leak. The region is also prone to periods of drought, especially in the summer months.
Most residents have a private cistern that can hold at least a thousand litres (264 gallons) of water. The city’s rooftops are filled with large plastic tanks, and many are underground in gardens and basements.
Despite the water crisis, tourists continue to flock to southern Sicily’s beautiful beaches and queue to admire the ruins of ancient Greek colonies.
“I’ve had no problems with the water,” New Zealand tourist Iain Topp said as he sweated in the scorching sun during a visit to the 2,500-year-old Concord temple. But he added that he had been told to “conserve water because there could be a shortage”.
Gianluca, an Italian tourist from Lodi who did not give his surname, said that he “did not encounter any drought problems” in his experience, adding, “They told me at my hotel that they have their own reserves, cisterns.”
The Valley of the Temples archaeological site, which its director said attracted more than a million visitors last year, has also been prioritized so it does not suffer from water shortages.
“We have water 24/7,” explained director Roberto Sciarratta. “We have archaeologists working, the valley is open at night with theater plays. We have no problems with water resources.”
Meanwhile, the tactics of the water-scarce people are working pretty well for now, but they are facing extremely difficult conditions.
According to the regional department of civil protection, 2024 is the worst rainfall year in more than 20 years. Lake Fanaco, which supplies water to the province of Agrigento, normally collects up to 18 million cubic meters of water during an average rainy season from September to April. But by April, the lake’s water had already fallen below 2 million cubic meters and is now almost completely dry.
The national government declared a state of emergency in May due to drought and allocated 20 million euros ($21.7 million) to buy water tankers and dig new wells.
According to the Climate Change Index, temperatures in southern Sicily are currently 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) warmer than the 1991-2020 average, meaning water is evaporating rapidly.
“If it doesn’t rain in September, we will have to start using critical reserves and not only our lakes but also wells and aquifers will fall below critical levels,” Cocina said.
Solutions are stretched thin
Salvatore Di Maria’s phone rarely stops ringing. He is the driver and owner of one of the main water tanker fleets in the region.
On a recent hot day, Di Maria answered his phone as he filled his shining blue tanker for another customer at a public water station.
“I need 12,000 litres (3,170 gallons) of water,” said the voice calling from a tourist resort.
“There is a waiting list of 10 to 15 days,” Di Maria replied.
Everyone wants water from it. Everyone wants to be sure that they will never run out of water. Everyone wants to have full cisterns. And tankers are the best way to deliver precious water directly to residents without leaks.
Dozens of tanker drivers speed along winding roads to deliver water to priority areas identified by the local water company AICA. The higher priority groups are sick or elderly people, hospitals and a few essential businesses such as hotels.
“The drought emergency was a wake-up call,” explained AICA president Settimio Cantone. “Our aqueduct is leaking 50 to 60 percent of its water.”
“We are currently digging new wells, repairing all the water systems and restarting a desalination plant with emergency funds. This will make our state more independent,” he said.
“Sicily is very vulnerable because of leaky pipes and old and inadequate infrastructures. It’s not just the climate,” said Giulio Boccaletti, scientific director of the European-Mediterranean climate change centre.
In between visits from water tankers, some Agrigento residents frequent the town’s only remaining fountain to fill their canisters on the way home.
Nuccio Navarra is one of the residents who fills canisters from the Bonamorone fountain two or three times a day. “In my house we get water every 15 days and the pressure is very low and people living on the upper floors cannot fill the cisterns,” he said.
Boccaletti, the climate scientist, said he was concerned about the future but noted that fixing water infrastructure and investing in adapting agriculture and engineering, as AICA hopes to do, could alleviate some concerns.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Mediterranean basin “will experience higher temperatures, less precipitation and continued sea level rise in the coming decades.” The group has called the region a “climate change hotspot” because of the fragility of human society and ecosystems.
“What used to be extraordinary is now the new normal,” Boccaletti said.
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