(11 Aug 2022)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4392464
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sermide, Mantua - 11 August 2022
1. Tracking of river bed
HEADLINE: Italy's Longest River Begins to Dry Up
2. Vessel stranded on dried up river bed,
ANNOTATION: The river Po is Italy's longest river, running from Turin to Venice it should be full of activity this time of year.
3. Small boat on dried up river bed
4. Houseboat low in water
5. Pan across vessels in low water.
ANNOTATION: But Northern Italy hasn't seen rainfall for months. And higher than usual temperatures are leaving the Po basin without its summer water reservoirs.
6. Boat on dried-up river bed
ANNOTATION: Normally, tourists and locals would come to seek refreshment in its waters from the heat of the Italian summer.
7. Houseboat owner Stefano Marca walks out into the middle of the river
ANNOTATION: This year people can walk in the river, but not swim or sail.
8. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Stefano Marca, houseboat owner:
"How was it before? Before the water was three or four metres high, there in the middle, now there must be 20 centimetres."
9. Drone of dried-up river bed
ANNOTATION: This is Italy's worst drought in decades.
10. Drone of dried-up river bed
ANNOTATION: The drying up of the Po is also jeopardizing drinking water in Italy's densely populated and highly industrialized districts.
STORYLINE:
Italy's longest river would normally be alive with noise in this period of the year.
Tourists and locals would come to seek refreshment in its waters from the heat of the Italian summer, dining on one of the docked boats or barges.
Others would stream along the river with their smaller boats or canoes.
But this year people can walk in the river Po, but not swim or sail.
Boats lie on the dried riverbed and the water level reaches barely half a metre near a tourist dock in Ficarolo, where the river marks the boundaries between the regions of Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, the industrial and agricultural heart of Italy.
The river Po runs 652 kilometers (405 miles) from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice.
It has dozens of tributary rivers, mostly originating in the Alps.
But Northern Italy hasn't seen rainfall for months and this year's snowfall was down by 70%.
Higher than usual temperature did the rest, leaving the Po basin without its summer water reservoirs, with repercussions on its surrounding economy, tourism, and agriculture.
The drying up of the Po is also jeopardizing drinking water in Italy's densely populated and highly industrialized districts, and threatening irrigation in the most intensively farmed part of the country, known as the Italian food valley.
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