What does drought have to do with floods? Are we running out of water on Earth?

In the last few months we have seen widespread and consistent rainfall, which, at least in part, has made the drought emergency, which affected northern Italy, recede. But what exactly is happening? Has the drought emergency returned? What role does climate change play in the occurrence of these extreme events?

After months of scarce rainfall, the intense rains (which in some cases caused floods and flooding) made up the deficit in the short and medium term (*1), but we have not yet reached a situation of “normality” (*2). We know that one of the consequences of climate change is the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events. But it is not so straightforward to establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship between an extreme event and climate change. In this specific case, however, this link does seem to exist. In particular, a study highlights that this drought was worsened by climate change (*3).

So what can we do to act effectively and preserve this precious resource?

In this documentary by Will Media the topic is explored in depth and it clearly explains what nature-based solutions can look like, namely NBS – Nature Based Solutions. Among these, trees certainly play a fundamental role. The documentary in fact discusses Bosco Limite, one of the first WOWnature projects, created specifically to improve water quality and aquifer recharge, in an area, that of Carmignano sul Brenta (VI), that is extremely important for the supply of spring water.

Bosco Limite is a concrete example of a Forest Infiltration Area (AFI). Forest Infiltration Areas are wooded surfaces that are specially created and maintained to promote the infiltration of surface water into the subsoil to recharge aquifers. To summarize and simplify, during periods of abundance, water (which would otherwise run off the land and be lost) is diverted into special channels within these special forests. Flowing through these channels, it has time to seep into the subsoil until it reaches the water table: it is thus “put in the bank” so it can become available again during periods of scarcity.

Find out more about Bosco Limite

https://www.wownature.eu/en/wow-area/bosco-limite

Sources

(1*) https://drought.climateservices.it/

(*2) https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/pre_meteo/idro/SeverIdrica.html

(*3) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbc37/pdf