Heatwave Pushes Seawater into Italy’s Po River, Threatening Farms and Food Production

ROME: A severe heatwave sweeping across Europe has sharply reduced the flow of Italy’s Po River, allowing seawater from the Adriatic Sea to move inland and threatening one of the country’s most important agricultural regions.

The Po River’s flow has fallen from around 1,000 cubic metres per second to less than 300 cubic metres per second in under two weeks, enabling a “salt wedge” of seawater to penetrate up to 18 kilometres inland. The intrusion is contaminating freshwater supplies used for irrigation and damaging fertile farmland in the Po Delta.

The affected region is a major producer of crops including maize, rice, soybeans, sunflowers and alfalfa, while also supplying milk used in the production of Italy’s renowned Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Farmers warn that increasing soil salinity could significantly reduce yields and inflict long-term damage on agricultural land.

Water authorities have begun closing irrigation canals to prevent saltwater from spreading further into farmland, but officials say barriers built in the 1980s are no longer sufficient to cope with increasingly frequent and intense droughts linked to climate change.

The current crisis has emerged earlier than the severe drought that struck northern Italy in 2022, raising concerns that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent across southern Europe. Scientists say prolonged heatwaves and declining river flows are increasing the risk of saltwater intrusion into coastal freshwater systems.

The Po River, Italy’s longest river, supports nearly one-third of the country’s agricultural production, making its declining water levels a major concern for food security, rural livelihoods and the broader economy as Europe continues to grapple with record-breaking temperatures.