Climate change and health country profile on water and sanitation in Italy

The first WHO - United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) climate and health country profile for Italy has been recently finalized by a multidisciplinary team including over 40 Italian health and climate scientists and 12 relevant institutions. One of the most dramatic effects related to early climatic changes is water scarcity. This condition occurs in Italy for both climatic events and human pressures, such as low rainfall combined with increasing demand (higher population along the coast in summer season in southern areas and islands, increasing demand for agriculture and animal husbandry). Other relevant climate changes directly and indirectly affecting environmental health consist of reduction of ice mass by temperature increasing in summer season and low winter snowfall (deglaciation of Alpine glaciers in northern areas), as well as severe flooding due to extreme precipitation regimes. Forecasting for future scenarios might be more frequent occurrence of aquifer overexploitation, reduction of water availability and drought phenomena that are expected to have severe consequences on water access (quantity and continuity of supply), and quality (e.g., turbidity for drinking water reservoirs), also affecting food production, forestry, energy and tourism. Droughts and extreme temperatures are exacerbating the water crisis with 6/20 Italian regions calling for a “state of emergency” in the summer of 2017. Based on these issues, Italy is strengthening a strategic vision for the water sector with national policy supporting regional and local authorities in managing water resources and surveying water quality. Strategic actions are set at national level, focused on: a) support to natural water conservation by development of a holistic water policy to promote water-use efficiency across all sectors, reclaimed water reuse, renovation of water networks and infrastructure; b) integrate country strategies for aggregation of surveillance authorities and fragmented water management companies also by using economic instruments, such as water pricing and investments; c) promotion of climate changes adaptation strategies and water-use efficiency by increasing resilience and improving drinking water systems in flood and droughts control through universal implementation of risk based approach in water and sanitation sector (water safety plans, sanitation safety plans), sustainable water use, and desalination technologies; d) strengthening of preventive approach, including waterborne diseases risk assessment and management, early warning systems based on forecasts of pathogen distributions, identification and monitoring of legacy and emerging chemicalcontaminants, modelling and monitoring of biogenic harmful substances (i.e., algal blooms and toxin production in the aquatic environment).