The government was urged on Monday to take emergency action as the country headed into a severe, early drought.
Experts and the farming community warned that the north's key River Po was already at a record low for the month of April and that this could have disastrous effects on agriculture and soon cause major power outages.
A crisis unit meeting at government offices in Rome on Monday asked for urgent measures such as restrictions on water use for non-domestic purposes and the increase of energy imports from abroad.
Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio said he would ask the government to declare a state of emergency at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
"Structural intervention is required with plans to save water and modernise the water distribution system to prevent waste and leakage," he said.
The experts said it was essential to keep the Po at the highest level possible, if necessary by "opening the taps" of higher mountain lakes to send water into the river.
The 675 km-long Po, the country's longest and most used river which cuts across the north from west to east, feeds irrigation channels and industries on the fertile Po plain and is also a major shipping route.
The river has been hit by drought several times over the past few years but never this early in the season.
On Sunday, the river was down to an unprecedented April low of 6.53 metres below sea level at Pontelagoscuro near Ferrara, where farmers said it had fallen by 80 centimetres in the last week alone.
The north's Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy, has also been affected and is 50 centimetres below its normal level in places.
Italy has just emerged from the mildest winter on record.
The summer ahead is expected to be dry with temperatures at least one degree higher than the average for the past five years.
Severe power shortages are feared, with rivers running generators at a low and unable to cope with the extra demand caused by the use of air conditioners, refrigerators and the like.
