ROME - Italy's largest lake, has reached its lowest water level in 70 years, new satellite data has shown. This compares to an average of 109 cm over the past 70 years.

 The lake, the largest in Italy and bordering with the regions of Lombardy and Veneto and the autonomous province of Trento, has fallen to just 45.8 cm above the hydrometric zero, the elevation above mean sea level established as a conventional reference for this basin.

 The data comes from the Sentinel-2 satellite in the framework of the Copernicus European Drought Observatory run by the European Commission and the European Space Agency. 

 Lake Garda is a crucial freshwater reservoir and its current capacity threatens its ability to sustain agriculture, local communities, tourism and navigation.The average water level of Lake Garda, which is about 65 metres above sea level, undergoes rather limited seasonal variations, particularly when compared to the other large pre-alpine lakes: this makes the recent lowering even more worrying.

 The new satellite images of the lake corroborate other images testifying to the drought that is gripping Italy and Europe, including the recent image of the Po River processed by the Cosmo-SkyMed constellation of the Italian Space Agency and Ministry of Defense.  

 Similarly, images from the European Space Agency's Smos satellite show that soil moisture is below average in much of southwestern Europe due to a winter that was not only particularly dry but also the second warmest on record. 

 In addition to Lake Garda, all the large lakes in northern Italy, such as Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, are seeing their levels drop due to the drought. Measurements also come from the hydrometric stations scattered throughout the territory of Irsa-Cnr, which collect climatic and meteorological data, as well as those relating to the impact on ecosystems.

 "We must remember, in fact, that the problem of drought also concerns aquatic ecosystems, which support human activities," stresses Marzia Ciampittiello. "For this reason, perhaps the whole system connected to agriculture, which has a considerable impact, should be reviewed: we cannot fight climate change," she adds, "we must necessarily find ways to adapt to it. Over the past two years, the lack of rain has been compounded by high temperatures, which cause increased evaporation from both reservoirs and the soil."

 "It is essential to learn how to manage water better," Ciampittiello concludes, "by avoiding waste and improving the efficiency of the distribution network, I am thinking of aqueducts, for example.

 eb