Italy's special drought crisis unit meets on Tuesday to examine the weather forecast for the next three months and review the current state of Italy's water supply.
The unit is made up of scientists, experts from the civil protection department and representatives from key ministries, including the environment and industry, and various major water authorities.
It meets at least once a month to update forecasts and examine the status of its contingency plan to deal with this summer's expected drought.
The plan includes a TV advertising campaign to focus on ways to save both water and electricity.
Other measures in the plan include building up reserve stocks of at least 350 million cubic meters of water, greater controls on water drawn from the Po River by industry and agriculture, and scheduled power outages for non-domestic use.
Italy has begun to be caught in the grips of a heat wave with temperatures already climbing over 35 degrees C.
Current forecasts indicate that Italy can expect an unseasonably hot and dry summer with no significant rain until August.
In its report last month, the crisis unit added that temperatures in August should be within the norm with alternating conditions of sunny and bad weather.
However, what rain there is will be average or below normal, especially in the central-north, and insufficient to offset the water shortage Italy has suffered from since last September.
The unit's May report said temperatures in June and July would be well above the average of the past five years, which was already significantly higher than normal, with several extreme heat waves.
Special monitoring stations have been set up in 18 key cities to coordinate efforts to combat the extreme heat, especially for those most at risk, including the elderly and children.
The Italian government in April declared a state of emergency as a precautionary measure because of the extremely low levels of lakes and rivers following an unusually dry winter.
Rainfall from September through February was down by between 20% to 40% and by as much as 60% in parts of the north.
Snow in the Italian mountains last February was said to have been only a third in area of what it was in February of last year and only half the depth.
Earlier this month, the national Research Council (CNR) said this past spring was the hottest in Italy since 1800, when records began to be kept.
The hot spring followed the hottest winter on record, CNR added.
