Measures are already being prepared for a potential summer power crisis caused by excessive high temperatures and a low level of water in rivers which run generators, Industry Minister Pierluigi Bersani said on Friday.
"We are carefully examining the scenarios for electricity consumption this coming summer. We need to keep a close eye on the situation because there could be problems if it is a particularly hot summer," Bersani told the press on the sidelines of Friday's confidence vote in the house.
When asked if Italy risked power blackouts this summer, the minister said "we will try to avoid them. We are studying a number of measures to compensate for the lack of water both for the generation of electricity and the cooling of power plants".
Earlier this week an expert warned that there was no chance for Italy's biggest river, the Po, to normal levels before the summer.
"Even with the best forecasts for rain it will be impossible for the river to make up for its lack of water," observed Stefano Tibaldi of the Emilia Romagna regional environmental agency.
Speaking to a climate seminar organised by the civil protection department, Tibaldi explained that "snow is scarce, existing water tables have already been tapped significantly and the traditional high water of the autumn never took place".
"What this all boils down to is that the water system in the north is in crisis," he added.
"Even in the best of circumstances there will be insufficient rainfall to restore water levels in lakes, the Po River and water tables in general," Tibaldi warned.
According to the expert, while drastic measures are not needed at present, "the civil protection department is right to monitor the situation constantly".
He then urged the farming community, which consumes some 60% of water resources, to use water rationally.
"Water is a precious and limited resource and thus it must be used reasonably. Farmers must learn to treat this resource with greater respect," Tibaldi concluded.
The expert's observations echoed a report last January by University of Florence Professor Giampiero Maracchi who warned that the Po risked "running dry or seriously low this summer unless there is ample rainfall this winter and spring".
Maracchi, who is also director of the National Research Council's biometeorology institute Ibitmet, added that "we have had 50% less rain than average in Italy and in the Po Valley as much as 60% less. If the situation does not change, not only will the Po risk running dry but other Italian rivers will as well".
Data has confirmed that Italy has been experiencing an unusually dry winter with rain and snowfall in December down 86% from the same month in 2005.
The sharpest drops were said to have been in the northern mountain regions of Piedmont, Trentino Alto Adige and Veneto, which feed Italy's major rivers.
In December, the average rainfall for the month was only 8.4mm, compared to 57.1mm in December 2005 and 90.9mm in 2002.
The December drought, which was preceded by a dry November, extended well into January and much of February.
Aside from the north, the situation in Italian lakes and rivers is also critical in Tuscany, Marche and Calabria.
