Europe’s next crisis: Water

This is the headline of an April 28 article from Politico, that quotes a study from earlier this year by the Institute of Geodesy at TU Graz, Austria was quoted. Using satellite data, groundwater, one of the most important freshwater resources for mankind and for ecosystems, was measurement from space. According to the study's press release "Europe lacks groundwater – a lot of groundwater."

Already for years, the Continent has been suffering from severe drought and rising temperatures. This dangerous regional cycle is making it difficult to recover from this deficit, with water becoming ever more precarious. "With summer around the corner, governments are now scrambling to address both current and future shortages — while managing the tensions arising from growing competition over water."

As we antecipated yesterday, the Spanish government announced €2 billion fund to tackle severe drought. About two-thirds of that amount will be used to build new infrastructure, including systems for reusing wastewater and seawater desalination plants.

Also in Spain, police arrested 26 people for allegedly digging 250 illegal water wells to irrigate their mango and avocado fruit fields in the southern province of Málaga. The people arrested were accused of crimes against the environment and causing damages to state-owned waters of over EUR 10 million.

Bloomberg posted a recent article titled "Water Theft Proves Lucrative in a Dangerously Dry World".

"Following an already poor 2022 for rainfall and temperatures, this year Spain recorded its hottest and driest April since at least 1961, the start of the statistical series used for comparison by the National Meteorological Agency. The main farmers' union estimates that 60% of farmland is currently "suffocated" by the lack of rainfall".

In Italy , Lake Garda is just over a third full. After little rain and meagre Alpine snowfalls over winter, the country is bracing for a second consecutive year of severe drought. Reservoirs and lakes are at extremely low levels, threatening agricultural production.

Shocking images. Real concerns.

Click at the image below for the press release of the study mentined.

And here for our articles on water.

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#groundwater