Ferrara, August 7, 2026 – The other day, August 4. At Pontelagoscuro the flow of the Po collapses to 246 cubic meters per second. The same date, six years ago. The river, impetuous, flowed at 709 cubic meters. From a water giant to little more than a stream, plunging down under the blows of drought, of crazy climate. Almost a third, the water that has disappeared between those banks. Alessandro Andreotti is part of the Canottieri society. He shakes his head. “The situation is dramatic, you can see the bottom right here. Mud and stones, pieces of wood, a swamp. We have placed the moorings only where there is still some water left. Now navigation is no longer possible, only for short stretches. Yes, the great river is suffering.”
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From great river to big ditch
The critical threshold is at 450 m³/s, a threshold that the Po has long abandoned, sinking between those banks, like in a big ditch, a canyon between walls of earth, tree roots emerged, islands that are now green. Grass has grown on them. Down the river, the sea advances. The phenomenon of saltwater intrusion in the branches of the Po Delta is frightening, the wedge has reached thirty kilometers from the coast. Irrigations increasingly at risk – salty water comes out of the pipes –, also the environment in jeopardy. Yesterday the Observatory on water uses of the Po river hydrographic district met, coordinated by the District Basin Authority of the Po River. The horizon, this emerged from the table, is burning. In the last 30 days, temperatures above the average for the period and close to reaching historic highs. Precipitation below normal. The summer of records, with peaks of 40 degrees, those reached yesterday. Waiting for a truce repeatedly announced. The forecasts, even those fluctuate. Fire red is the color of the plain in the charts, on the maps.
“The emergency continues and there is no short-term way out”
“The most critical aspect of the entire scenario – it reads – remains the absence of a short-term way out. The main weather models indicate the persistence of this anomalous heat at least until the mid-August period.” Alessandro Delpiano is the general secretary of the Po river basin authority. He says: “The persistent high temperatures are exhausting the last water reserves, the large pre-Alpine lakes. The emergency continues and there is still no end in sight. The consequences of climate change in northern Italy could become even more serious, for agriculture, industry and the population, and for the vital system as a whole. Without water and without food there can be no life, therefore we must soon adopt further measures to adapt to climate change, so as not to find ourselves in a few years living situations even worse than this.”
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“The lowest level of the Po in this nightmare summer”
Dark scenario, the one expected. “With 246 cubic meters per second recorded at Pontelagoscuro, the flow of the Po river has reached the lowest level of this nightmare summer. After a partial recovery during the night, the level has dropped again and is definitely heading below the psychological threshold of 200 cubic meters.” The salt wedge surrounds Porto Tolle, on the Venetian side of the Delta. The Po Delta Reclamation Consortium was forced to stop irrigating the fields.” The Po river Observatory could only acknowledge the situation, even more serious than last week when the level of severity was raised to the maximum.
“There are those who pack their backpack and escape to the beaches”
“After the great drought of 2022, we are again witnessing the collapse of the territory – says the director of the Po Delta Reclamation Consortium Rodolfo Laurenti –. Porto Tolle and Polesine Camerini are islands in the middle of a sea.” Not even on our side, that of Emilia, is there much to rejoice about. Persistent critical issues for irrigation and drinking water sectors, extreme drought, saltwater intrusion phenomena. “Water severity is still high,” Delpiano specifies. We are in the midst of the emergency. There are those who pack their backpack and escape to the beaches, relaxation at the end of the Superhighway. Those who still work. And so just a towel, a bag with sunscreen, stop at the pool. Summer along the Beethoven shore. Another day of fire in the city.
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