October 7, 2014

Dear President Giorgio Napolitano,

I am writing to you with concerns about our nations water security
and regulation. I have noticed that Italy is having issues with the water
supply. The recent climate changes have caused droughts, desertification, and
an increasing demand of water. This high demand of water is causing a
decrease in our fresh water resources. This in turn has led to us using
groundwater from throughout Italy to supply our irrigation systems and this
groundwater is not being replenished. Our country also has multiple large
water-bottle companies that are having issues because they do not have
enough water to sell.
In the coming years Italy will lose more and more of our water sources.
We need to take action to secure our water and prevent this from happening.
I propose that we have a plan in progress during this water crisis.
First we should regulate the amount of groundwater that is being used
for irrigation networks in each region of Italy. We need to create a
government water management team to watch our water sources and to
enforce the water rules. This is important because if we continue to use more
groundwater than can be replenished, this source will disappear. Next we
should build dams on some of the smaller rivers in Italy. This in turn would
create reservoirs we could use for the water supply instead of relying on
groundwater. Lastly, we could continue to create more projects that reuse
sanitized wastewater for irrigation. This sanitized wastewater will create
another water source besides the groundwater and the water from the dams.
We will need to set aside the specific funds to support these water
projects and have our water management team make sure we are using these
funds efficiently. Possible consequences of this water plan are legal disputes
with environmentalists over the building of the dams and also less river flow
and river pollution. This plan needs to begin in the near future because the
need for water in our nation is becoming more and more urgent and we need
to help our people.
Sincerely,
Lauren Fogarty
Minister for the Environment, Land, and Sea