Drought: River Po down to 10% of usual level - ANBI

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 21 - Italy's severe drought is getting even worse, the ANBI water-resources observatory said on Thursday.
    It said 113.7 cubic metres of water a second were passing through the River Po at Pontelagoscuro, near Ferrara, some 123 metres a second less than the previous all-time low and around 10% of the average level.
    It said central Italy was also being hit hard by the drought, describing Rome and Viterbo as "the Italian capitals of thirst".
    Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana said Tuesday that his region has almost run out of water for agriculture due to the drought.
    "Unfortunately, we have got to such a level of drought that water for agriculture is running out," Fontana said at a conference at Pavia University.
    "Lakes Maggiore, Garda and Como have reserves that it will be possible to use for agricultural purposes for a few days.
    "The situation is very worrying.
    "If it doesn't rain in the next few days, it will be difficult to find water resources for agriculture".
    Scientists say that extreme weather events like the heat waves that are currently hitting many parts of Europe, supercharged storms, flooding and droughts are becoming more frequent and intense because of climate change caused by human activity.
    (ANSA).