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In recent years, the Fucino Plain\u2014one of Abruzzo\u2019s main agricultural hubs, where the rich, lake-derived soil and the flat terrain allow for the cultivation of crops such as the Fucino carrot (which has been granted Protected Geographical Indication\u2014PGI\u2014status)\u2014has been facing a severe water crisis, exacerbated by the climate crisis\u2014which is responsible for increasingly frequent and prolonged droughts\u2014and by inefficient water resource management.<\/p>\n
To address the crisis, the Abruzzo Region has approved an absurd irrigation project that calls for not only diverting water from the Giovenco River and the Restina and Boccione springs, but also building a 200-kilometer pressurized network in the eastern part of the plain.
Solutions that, according to Salviamo L\u2019Orso, Rewilding Apennines, and Forumambientalista, risk being, in the first case, severely harmful to the environment and, in the second, at the very least ineffective unless accompanied by long-term network rehabilitation efforts. <\/p>\n
The Giovenco River, in fact, flows through one of the wildest and most biodiverse areas of the central Apennines, on the edge of the Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Park. Its waters sustain a habitat that is essential for protected species such as the Marsican brown bear. Diverting water from the river would drastically reduce its flow, disrupting ecological balances and jeopardizing the survival of these animals, which are already threatened by habitat fragmentation and human pressure. <\/p>\n
Yet, as explained in the press release issued by the Forum Abruzzese dei Movimenti per l’Acqua and signed by Salviamo L’Orso, Rewilding Apennines and Forumambientalista, “the same Basin Authority that should stand as guarantor of the river ecosystem and the communities that depend on it, on the one hand admits black and white that the data presented in the project are unreliable and that a water, hydrological and hydrogeological balance for the entire Plain is missing, prescribing its elaboration. On the other, in an official document, it issues a positive opinion going against a study on the hydrogeological basin of the Plain whose existence we learned of through a request for access to the records of the Abruzzo Region. According to the study by the University of L’Aquila, dating back to 2008, in rainy years the agricultural sector could have accessed a maximum of 5 million cubic meters\/month in July and August. In dry years, that amount should drop to 2-3 million cu m\/month, figures that do not take into account either the runoff to be released into the Giovenco River bed and canals or the effects of the climate crisis that is exacerbating periods of water scarcity. Yet as much as 4 million cu m\/month was granted in the project for only 5,100 hectares, which, considering all 13,000 hectares of the Plain, would increase to 10 million cu m\/month.”<\/p>\n
Another cause for concern is the structural viability of the proposal: the Giovenco is a modest watercourse with a limited flow rate that is subject to significant seasonal variations. During periods of peak water demand, such as summer, the river often struggles, and using it as the primary source for irrigating the Fucino would mean diverting resources from an already fragile ecosystem, without guaranteeing a sufficient supply to meet the agricultural needs of the plain. Diverting its water would therefore significantly alter the natural balance of the watershed, compromising river habitats, reducing biodiversity, and causing erosion or pollution problems in downstream areas. Furthermore, diverting its course could also affect water availability for other municipalities and areas that already depend on the Giovenco River\u2014not to mention that,
To resolve the underlying problem\u2014namely, the poor efficiency of the Fucino irrigation network\u2014which requires major structural improvements to the irrigation system: without modernizing the infrastructure and introducing more sustainable irrigation techniques (such as drip irrigation, for example), any new water source risks being wasted. <\/p>\n
Therefore, our association calls for resources to be invested in sustainable structural interventions, such as the modernization of irrigation canals, wastewater recovery, rainwater harvesting, and the promotion of water-efficient farming techniques. Solutions that would safeguard both Fucino agriculture and the biodiversity of mountain streams. <\/p>\n
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In recent years, the Fucino Plain\u2014one of Abruzzo\u2019s main agricultural hubs, where the rich, lake-derived soil and the flat terrain allow for the cultivation of crops such as the Fucino carrot (which has been granted Protected Geographical Indication\u2014PGI\u2014status)\u2014has been facing a severe water crisis, exacerbated by the climate crisis\u2014which is responsible for increasingly frequent and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19524"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21294,"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19524\/revisions\/21294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salviamolorso.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}