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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The Management of Water Resources during Drought in Southern Italy

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The aim of this paper is to describe how one of the most severe droughts of the century in Sicily has brought awareness of the insufficiency of the water resources system supplying Palermo, due not only to the lack of timely infrastructural measures, but also of an appropriate decisional framework. The experienced shortage has directed research efforts to overcome this problem. As a matter of fact, the 1989–90 drought gave clear evidence of how an heavy hydrologic failure can result in a real crisis depending on the system which suffers from it. Unplanned urban expansion and increased demands levels, mixed with the lack of a drought-oriented water managenment, have produced considerable discomfort to civil population and relevant damages to economic activities, especially agriculture. From this point of view this is the story of how to learn from the past in order to plan the future. Section 2 is devoted to the description of the Palermo water resources system and of its evolution; the following sections will deal with the research developments carried out in order to gain a deeper insight of drought hydrology and management.