AGRIGENTO, Italy (AP) — The lakes are dry and the fields are scorched by the heat in Sicily, but the water is still gushing copiously for tourists.
After a year of almost complete rain on the Italian island, the fountains in Agrigento’s famous archaeological park are still flowing and the pools in rows of hotels are full.
Like many Mediterranean islands, people in Sicily are used to long periods without rain, but human-caused climate change has made the weather more erratic and droughts can be longer and more frequent. The islanders are surviving as they have for decades – they store as much as they can in cisterns and use tanker trucks to deliver water – and they do it so well for visitors that they don’t notice the difference. But this year, the drought has worsened so much that it puts residents at even greater risk, despite water still flowing to hotels and tourist sites.
Resilience in a dry year
Drought is punishing. The local watershed authority has heavily rationed water for nearly a million residents – they are allowed just two to four hours a week – to get through the summer. And on Friday, the Italian navy’s first tanker arrived to deliver 12 million liters (3.2 million gallons) of water to the hardest-hit residents.
But Agrigento’s residents are among the most drought-resistant in Italy, and even with rationing, they still manage their businesses, hotels, guesthouses and families without skipping a shower, neglecting the garden or closing the pool.
“No one can deal with water scarcity better than the inhabitants of southern Sicily,” said Salvatore Cocina, head of local civil protection, who has the difficult task of coordinating the little water that remains on the island.
Water shortages are nothing new, as the land in southern Sicily does not hold much water and aqueducts are leaking. The region is also prone to dry periods, especially in summer.
Most residents have a private cistern with a capacity of at least 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of water. The city’s rooftops are full of large plastic tanks, and many of them are underground, in gardens and basements.
Despite the water emergency, tourists continue to flock to the beautiful beaches of southern Sicily and queue up to admire the remains of ancient Greek colonies.
“I haven’t had any problems with water,” said New Zealand tourist Iain Topp, as he sweated under the scorching sun during a visit to the 2,500-year-old Concord Temple. But he added that “he was told to save water because there could be a shortage.”
Gianluca, an Italian tourist from Lodi who did not give his surname, said that “there are no drought problems” in his experience and “in my hotel they told me that they have their own reserves, their cisterns”.
The Valley of the Temples archaeological site, which, according to its director, attracted more than a million visitors last year, was also prioritized, so it does not suffer from water shortages.
“We have water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” explained director Roberto Sciarratta. “Our archaeologists are working, the valley is also open at night with theater plays. We have no problems with the water supply.”
Meanwhile, the tactics of water-stressed residents are working reasonably well for now, but they have faced exceptionally difficult circumstances.
2024 was the worst year in terms of precipitation in more than 20 years, according to the regional civil protection department. Lake Fanaco, which supplies water to the province of Agrigento, used to collect up to 18 million cubic meters of water during an average rainy season, which typically runs from September to April. But in April the lake’s water was already below 2 million cubic meters and is now almost completely dry.
In May, the national government declared a state of emergency due to the drought and allocated 20 million euros ($21.7 million) to buy tanker trucks and dig new wells.
And temperatures in southern Sicily are currently 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) warmer than the 1991-2020 average, according to the Climate Change Index, meaning water evaporates quickly.
“If it doesn’t rain in September, we will have to start exploring critical reserves, and wells and aquifers will also fall below critical levels, not just our lakes,” said Cocina.
Stretched Solutions
Salvatore Di Maria’s phone rarely stops ringing. He is a driver and owner of one of the main fleets of water trucks in the region.
On a recent hot day, Di Maria picked up her phone as she filled her shiny blue tanker truck at a public water station for yet another customer.
“I need 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) of water,” said the voice on the other end, calling from a tourist resort.
“There is a waiting list of 10 to 15 days,” replied Di Maria.
Everyone asks him for water. Everyone wants to make sure they don’t 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 truck drivers speed along the winding roads, delivering water to priority areas, as determined by the local water company, AICA. The highest priority groups are sick or elderly people, hospitals and several important companies such as hotels.
“The drought emergency was a wake-up call,” explained Settimio Cantone, president of AICA. “Our aqueduct leaks 50 to 60 percent of its water.”
“We are now digging new wells, repairing the entire water supply system and reactivating a desalination plant with emergency funds. This will make our province more independent,” he said.
“Sicily is very vulnerable due to leaky pipes and obsolete and undersized infrastructure. It’s not just about the climate,” said Giulio Boccaletti, scientific director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change.
Between water truck visits, many Agrigento residents make frequent trips to the only open public fountain in the city to fill up their jerry cans on the way home.
Nuccio Navarra is one of these residents, filling gallons from the Bonamorone fountain two or three times a day. “In my house we receive water every 15 days and the pressure is very low, and those who live on the upper floors cannot fill the cisterns,” he said.
Climate scientist Boccaletti fears for the future, although he noted that repairing water infrastructure and investing to adapt agriculture and engineering, as AICA hopes to do, could offset some concerns.
The Mediterranean basin “will experience higher temperatures, less rainfall and a continued rise in sea levels over the next few decades,” according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The group dubbed the region a “climate change hotspot” due to the vulnerability of human society and ecosystems.
“What used to be extraordinary is the new normal,” Boccaletti said.
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