Environment

Drought Continues in the Po Valley, Italy

Northern Italy’s lakes and rivers are abnormally low after an unusually dry winter, farmers have warned. The mighty Po River is Italy’s longest waterway. Flowing from the snowy Alps to the Adriatic Sea, the Po stretches more than 650km, nourishing crops and providing vital irrigation to arable land.

But the river - and the farming communities who depend upon it - are under threat. Last summer, record-breaking droughts reduced parts of the once-gushing waterway to a sluggish trickle. An unusually dry winter has brought little relief.