Garda and climate gone mad. Water management must be reviewed: rationalise irrigation

03 January 2024

From one extreme to the other. The ongoing climate change is also being felt, in an evident way, on Lake Garda. The year that has just ended is proof of this, where we have gone from a water crisis to the exact opposite. The frequency of extreme events is now there for all to see, peacefully accepted by the keyboard deniers. 
Thus, as has been known for months now, the Garda Community has proposed a revision of vote number 55 of 1965 of the Superior Council of Public Works on which the regulation and use of the lake's waters depend. A topic that will be addressed at the general assembly convened for Saturday 20 January in the Salò headquarters. "Since 1965 the world has changed," says Pierlucio Ceresa, secretary general of the Garda Community, "there is a different environmental sensitivity and therefore it is correct to adapt the lake's water management.

The topic is of public interest. Luigi del Prete, referent of the Garda cultural operators' association, argues that "the scientific certainty of the ongoing climate changes requires a general revision of the operational levels; furthermore, disbursements must be proportional to availability and a rationalisation of irrigation systems in agriculture is needed to reduce waste along with a revision of agricultural crops to privilege those that are less water-intensive. 
"Without forgetting," he concludes, "the use of the Adige-Garda spillway, which must be limited to extraordinary flooding events only, while at the same time developing interventions to channel water from the Adige River into the Mincio and into the irrigation system, without passing through the lake.


Read the full article on: https://brescia.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/24_gennaio_03/garda-e-clima-impazzito-la-gestione-dell-acqua-deve-essere-rivista-razionalizzare-l-irrigazione-667fb0de-ab2a-4cd7-983d-1a1579a5axlk.shtml#