Discharge from Lake Lugano more than doubled for 10 days amd critical situation at Lake Maggiore.<\/p>\n
Switzerland has agreed to temporarily increase the amount of water it releases from Lake Lugano into Lake Maggiore, in an emergency move to help Italy cope with a severe drought that has pushed the lake close to its historic low.<\/p>\n
The Ticino Waterways Authority said the flow from Lake Lugano into the River Tresa, which feeds Lake Maggiore, would rise from three to eight cubic metres per second for the next 10 days, with the situation to be closely monitored.<\/p>\n
The move is expected to lower Lake Lugano’s own water level by around 10 centimetres.<\/p>\n
The decision was taken by the Italian-Swiss body responsible for regulating Lake Maggiore’s level and managing water resources in the catchment area, which held an emergency meeting after a request from Italy’s enviornment ministry.<\/p>\n
The meeting had been prompted by the critical situation at Lake Maggiore and the rice-growing areas downstream in Novara, Lomellina and Milan, as well as by an Italian request to examine further releases from Ticino hydroelectric reservoirs.<\/p>\n
Italian-Swiss cooperation<\/p>\n
Lake Maggiore is shared by Italy and Switzerland, but its level is controlled from the Italian side, by the Miorina dam at Sesto Calende, with day-to-day management handled by the Ticino Consortium. Because decisions affect both countries, Italy and Switzerland coordinate through the Italian-Swiss Bilateral Body.<\/p>\n
Lake Lugano, also shared between the two states, is linked to Lake Maggiore via the short River Tresa, giving Switzerland a practical way of sending it extra water.<\/p>\n
The additional flow is intended to support Lake Maggiore’s level and, above all, to safeguard supplies to the rice paddies of the Po plain, one of Europe’s largest rice-growing areas.<\/p>\n