Скачать или смотреть Italy's Po river threatened by another dry summer

(26 Apr 2023)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boretto, Italy - 18 April 2023
1. Aerial of dry stretch of sand along the bank of the River Po ++MUTE++
2. Pull focus from sand to Po river
3. Large stretch of sand along the Po river
4. Captain Giuliano Landini, commander of the Stradivari ship, showing shallow water areas
5. Sandy stretch of Po river bed
6. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Giuliano Landini, commander of Stradivari ship:
“We will have soon a river that could turn into a highway of sand, within the next ten years or so, not long from now.”
7. Landini on ship deck and low Po river in the background
8. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Giuliano Landini, commander of Stradivari ship:
“I sailed the Po for the first time when I was 13 years old and I learned to swim in this river when I was 5 years old. I remember a river full, also full of life, boats, fishing, now there is nothing, this river is completely abandoned. We talk about it only when there is water shortage, when someone drowns, or when there is pollution. Therefore, I don’t see a future.”
9. Stradivari ship docked in shallow waters and sandy stretch of river bed in the background
10. Aerial zoom out of sandy stretch of Po river bed ++MUTE++
11. Dry part of Po and stranded buoy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cremona - 19 April 2023
12. Aerial of sandy stretch of the Po river bed ++MUTE++
13. Dry river under highway bridge
14. Various aerials of sandy stretch of the Po river bed ++MUTE++
15. Dry river bed under highway bridge
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Parma - 18 April 2023
16. Alessandro Bratti, Secretary General of the authority of the Po basin, in his office
17. Diagram showing decreasing flow rate of the Po river
18. SOUNDBITE (Italian), Alessandro Bratti, Secretary General of the authority of the Po basin:
“The flow rate that we currently have at Pontelagoscuro (on the delta) is the same we had last year in June. Therefore we are abundantly below the historical minimum and even more abundantly below, one third, the average level of the season.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Torricella - 19 April 2023
19. Aerial of dry port of Torricella, in a canal of Po river ++MUTE++
20. Wide of dry port and dredged area in the background
21. Aerial of dry port of Torricella ++MUTE++

STORYLINE:
Italy’s largest river is already as low as it was last summer, with the winter snow fields that normally save it from drying up over the warmer months having receded by 75%, according to the Bolzano climate and environment agency.

It's already causing some ship captains reliant on the Po to course correct.

“In a few days I will have to cancel all bookings for our Po River cruises because of the shallow water,” said captain Giuliano Landini, with his arms stretched wide on the command deck of the Stradivari ship docked under the Boretto bridge and surrounded by long stretches of sand.

His 60-meter (196-foot) long vessel used to transport up to 400 people even on shallow waters, but the flow rate of the river is just 350 cubic meters (92,000 gallons) per second, as low as last June, when conditions were some of the hottest and driest in 70 years.

Navigation will soon become impossible if abundant rainfall doesn’t arrive soon.

The 652-kilometer (405-mile) Po River — which runs from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice on the eastern coast —traverses Italy’s most densely populated, highly industrialized and most intensively farmed part of the country, known as the Italian food valley.

It’s home to fishermen and boats, feeds rich farmlands, powers turbines and quenches local populations across its banks and delta.

























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