Switzerland Opens the Taps While Italy's Infrastructure Runs Dry

Italy, a country that coasts comfortably on its cultural reputation, is currently struggling to keep its northern citizens hydrated. Switzerland, a wealthy and reliably well-organised neighbour, has agreed to flush extra water from Lake Lugano into Lake Maggiore to alleviate the crisis. Canton Ticino is temporarily increasing the discharge down the River Tresa from 3 to 8 cubic metres per second. This emergency release is designed to salvage the parched rice fields of Piedmont and Lombardy, regions that usually boast of being the economic engine of the peninsula but are now reliant on Swiss generosity to maintain their agricultural output.

The arrangement was hastily hammered out by the Italian-Swiss Bilateral Consultation Body. Prompted by grim data from the Po River Basin Authority, Italy’s Ministry of the Environment urgently requested the intervention. The Swiss delegation, exhibiting their characteristic friendliness, readily accepted the proposal. While the Miorina dam at Sesto Calende technically controls Lake Maggiore under the daily supervision of the Ticino Consortium, the basin's transboundary nature means Rome cannot manage its water without Bern's quiet cooperation.

Behind the diplomatic coordination lies a stark infrastructural failure. By mid-July, around 100 municipalities in Piedmont were already rationing water. For 50 of these towns, encompassing 25,000 residents, the state's dilapidated supply networks failed entirely, forcing reliance on emergency water tankers. The statistics from Arpa Piemonte are damning, recording surface water resources at 37 percent below the seasonal average. Following a June 2026 that saw temperatures spike 3.5 degrees Celsius above normal, the Po River at Isola Sant'Antonio slowed to a trickle of 62 cubic metres per second, a staggering 75 percent below its historical reference.

The desiccation is not contained to a few unlucky mountain hamlets. The permanent observatory for the Po River District escalated the basin's water stress rating to high, with Cremona registering extreme conditions. Lombardy currently has 50 municipalities in distress, with 17 surviving on tanker deliveries. The Marche region counts 32 municipalities in similar straits, while Veneto also reports critical shortages. At the Po Delta, the weakened river flow is inviting saltwater intrusion from the sea, threatening coastal ecosystems and farming activities alike.

The crisis lays bare a brutal competition for a shrinking resource. Water destined for lucrative northern rice paddies cannot simultaneously flow through municipal pipes or sustain river ecosystems. Even the historically poorer South, which depends heavily on reservoirs, is facing high stress scenarios according to ISPRA. Italy desperately requires modern reservoirs, wastewater reuse facilities, and repaired supply grids. Instead, the nation watches its rivers turn to dust, hoping the Swiss state system will keep the taps open just a little longer.

Written by Martina Kirchner martina.kirchner@alpineweekly.com