Why Venice’s famous canals are now drying

Secondary canals have dried up in Venice, Italy, and ambulance boats are being tied farther away from their destination. (Photo via AP)

What are the famous canal and gondolas of Venice?

Located in northern Italy, the city of Venice has a unique geography. It is a collection of over 118 small islands spread over a lagoon, which is a kind of water body that is separated from a larger water body through some kind of land formation. Covering 70,176.4 ha., the Venetian lagoon is separated from the Adriatic Sea. A NASA image shows the red tile roofs of buildings in the Venetian Lagoon.

Venice Lagoon – This image was snapped May 9 from the space station’s #Exp39 crew: http://t.co/7NlpNBoxsX #ISS pic.twitter.com/Gk8eARgAEj

— NASA (@NASA) June 2, 2014

According to UNESCO, temporary settlements in the 5th century gradually became permanent here, comprising land-dwelling peasants and fishermen. “Venice and its lagoon landscape is the result of a dynamic process which illustrates the interaction between people and the ecosystem of their natural environment over time,” UNESCO states.

Why have some Venitian canals gone dry?

At present, the near waterless canals have disrupted everyday life in the city because they’re responsible for carrying a bulk of transportation — automobiles are banned throughout much of Venice.

The AP report said the situation has forced medical crews to tie up ambulance boats farther away from their destination. The crews have to “sometimes hand-carry stretchers over long distances since their vessels can’t progress up canals, reduced to a trickle of water and muck,” the report added.

Apart from this, tourists have also been left disappointed as gondolas, the flat-bottom long boats that travel under the famous bridges of Venice, can’t navigate the dried-up routes. According to weather analysts, a high-pressure system is stuck over the city, creating low tides, which has led to low water levels. However, many say the root cause behind the issue is the drought-like situation across Italy.

What is the water crisis in Italy?

Since last summer, the region has been seeing a severe shortage of water in its rivers and lakes. On Monday (February 20), Legambiente, an Italian environmentalist association, said the water crisis might worsen in coming months with Italy already “suffering at a time of year when water supplies should be plentiful”, ANSA news agency reported.

The association also pointed out that the Italian Alps have received nearly half of the normal snowfall during this winter. “This is worrying as snow is an important source of water in spring and summer when, by melting, it ensures water supplies in the months it is most needed,” the news agency said.

Meanwhile, Italy’s longest river, the Po, which travels from the Alps to the Adriatic, has 61 per cent less water than normal at this time of year. To make matters worse, Italy’s largest lake, Lake Garda, is also suffering from low water levels.

Some experts suggest that the region hasn’t been able to recuperate from the after-effects of last year’s drought. In 2022, Italy experienced its worst drought in 70 years, with authorities declaring a state of emergency in five northern areas: Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto.

Scientists have been sounding the alarm for decades regarding the impact of climate change on Italian rivers and lakes but successive governments have failed to take action, a 2022 report in the journal Nature said. Stefano Fenoglio, professor of zoology and hydrobiology at the University of Turin, told the journal, “Italy is very exposed to climate change, especially the Alpine region and facing this crisis should be a priority.”

“Drought is treated like an acute episode, but it’s becoming a chronic one now.”