Rome meeting to avert water rationing

(ANSA) - Rome, July 25 - A crunch meeting will take place at Rome city hall later on Tuesday to seek to find a way to prevent water rationing for around 1.5 million people in Rome starting later this week. Water utility ACEA announced the plan after the Lazio region government said it will be stopped from taking water from nearby Lake Bracciano, the level of which has fallen significantly due to the recent drought. The move would see water being cut off for around eight hours, mostly in the night and in the morning.
    ACEA and the regional government are both taking part in the meeting. Water is already been rationed to users in around 20 towns in the province of Rome.
    The drought is not just hitting Rome. The farmland of two-thirds of Italy is hit by drought and the cost to Italian agriculture amounts to two billion euros, according to farmers association Coldiretti.