Starved by drought, Rome’s water supply may not spring eternal

WOODRUFF: A serious drought has swept southern Europe this summer. Some farmers in Italy
and Spain are predicting the worst crop yields in 20 years. Agricultural damage and loss
are expected to be in the billions.
NEWSHOUR special correspondent Christopher Livesay bring us this report from Italy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY, PBS NEWSHOUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For three generations,
Daniel Granieri and his family have farmed olives in the tiny hilltop town of Nerola,
producing extra-virgin olive oil from these fields outside Rome.
This summer, things took a turn, and for the worst.
DANIEL GRANIERI, OLIVE FARMER (through translator): I started to get very worried. From being
worried, that turned into being absolutely certain about the drought. There`s never been
anything like this, not in 20 years. This is the worst it`s ever been.
LIVESAY: Granieri is also the regional president of the Italian Farmers Association, Coldiretti.
He shows me some of the damage up close.
GRANIERI (translated): Look here, there`s hardly anything compared to the olives that
should be on this branch. Raising the price won`t offset the loss. But we`ll have to raise
them at least 10 to 15 percent. We`ve lost up to 70 percent of our harvest in the region.
LIVESAY: The drought is so relentless that his town now rations water. For eight-hour
blocks every day, they can`t turn on their taps. And they aren`t alone. So far, 20 nearby
towns have had to follow suit. Roughly $200 million in crops have been lost in the Central
Lazio region alone. And two billion dollars have gone up in smoke nationwide, due to drought
and related brush fires, according to Coldiretti.
Conditions have gotten so dire that even Rome, the city of aqueducts, has warned it too may
have to ration water for a million and a half Rome residents, and the tourists who flock
there.
(on camera): There are almost 3,000 of these drinking fountains like this all over Rome,
and there`s a trick to getting a good drink.
But that could soon be a thing of the past. The city is currently turning off 30 fountains
a day because of the drought.
(voice-over): Romans call them nasoni, or "big noses" for their curved spigots. The
water utility says it`s the first time in history they`ve had to turn them off, a radical
move in a city where water plays such a central role, from the Trevi fountain, to the Tiber
River.
TOM RANKIN, PROFESSOR, LA SAPIENZA UNIVERSITY: Rome was founded where it is because of this
water, because of the Tiber Tiber.
LIVESAY: Tom Rankin is a professor of urbanism at Rome`s La Sapienza University.
RANKIN: The Romans were smart. They started removing the groundwater where it was undesired,
using for their water source, wells.
LIVESAY (on camera): So, the ancient Romans were master engineers of water.
RANKIN: They really were. They really were. And when you think about it, the sewer system,
they were certainly in place in the 4th century B.C., and it`s still functioning today. It`s
probably the most cost- effective public works project ever built.
LIVESAY (voice-over): But modern city planning has fallen short. The drought is one thing,
he says. But long-term mismanagement is also to blame.
Officials from both the city and the water utility declined requests for an interview.
RANKIN: Rome, of all the European capitals, is the only city that has a fully sustainable
water supply, meaning that the water table is recharged faster than the city can use
the water. The real problem, though, is not that there wouldn`t be enough water to provide
for the population, it`s the waste of water.
LIVESAY (on camera): The waste of water?
RANKIN: The waste of water. The water system is damaged. And therefore, at least 25 percent
of it, some say up to half of it, leaks out before getting to its destination.
LIVESAY (voice-over): Leaks like this one, that`s caused foliage to overgrow a path along
the river.
RANKIN: Because you see, this water isn`t actually stagnant, it`s flowing. It`s flowing
from the city`s water system.
LIVESAY: And this one, which has formed stalactites.
The water utility says it`s working to repair city pipes in order to avoid rationing water.
But the lingering threat frightens Roman shaved-ice vendor, Maria di Pascale.
MARIA DI PASCALE, SHAVED ICE VENDOR (through translator): It would be a tragedy because
without water, you can`t survive, you can`t work. It`s essential for humans to survive.
But especially us, because we need it for our business.
LIVESAY: The threat is especially acute for some of Rome`s most vulnerable. The Red Cross
says turning off public fountains poses a serious risk to the city`s thousands of homeless,
which include a growing number of migrants.
Volunteer Marzia di Mento distributes food and water to migrants and refugees outside
Rome`s Tiburtina Train Station.
MARZIA DI MENTO, BOABAB EXPERIENCE (through translator): We need those fountains. We use
those that are closest to the camp. We use this pipe for the people to bathe in.
We`re afraid it could be turned off at any moment. It`s their only water source. It would
be a huge loss.
Many of the migrants have skin diseases from the trip over here by boat. They need water
to clean those wounds. Water is fundamental.
LIVESAY: For the moment, Rome says it`s averted water rationing by tapping Lake Bracciano,
about 30 miles outside the city. But that`s caused still more problems, as water levels
plummet to alarming lows, threatening local plants and wildlife.
Back in the Rome countryside, farmer Daniel Granieri survey`s his olives. This year, he`ll
have to pick them early in order to save what isn`t already lost.
GRANIERI (through translator): Drought has absolutely become a recurring event. A farm
like mine now has to decide either to change business, or make some serious changes in
infrastructure. If this happens again next year, farms will go out of business.
LIVESAY: For urbanism professor Tom Rankin, Rome`s drought is a wake-up call, not just
for the Eternal City, but for cities around the world coping with a changing climate.
RANKIN: If Rome, which is by definition a great water city, if it can no longer manage
its abundant resource, then how can we expect places which have a very limited supply of
water to survive? On the other hand, if Rome were able to demonstrate its ability to engineer
a solution, providing fresh, clean water for free to a growing population, then it would
set a model for the rest of the world.
LIVESAY (on camera): Is that what we`re seeing, Rome rising to the occasion?
RANKIN: Not yet.
LIVESAY (voice-over): For the PBS NEWSHOUR, I`m Christopher Livesay, in Rome.

Starved by drought, Rome’s water supply may not spring eternal

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