Never mind rising gas and oil prices, never mind a possible economic crisis: the world is actually edging closer to water bankruptcy. That is precisely why World Water Day, celebrated on 22 March, must be a genuine opportunity for reflection and debate. The term water bankruptcy comes from the Blue Book 2026, the annual report on integrated water services in Italy produced by Utilitalia and Fondazione Utilitatis, which cites data, warnings and a definition from the United Nations University: it means that the planet has passed the point at which water demand can be met by renewable supplies. This is no longer a temporary crisis from which we can exit at will: the dynamics already under way — the depletion of aquifers, the retreat of glaciers, the disruption of the hydrological cycle — are largely irreversible on a human timescale. And this is where Italy enters the picture, given that the Mediterranean is one of the regions of the planet most exposed to the effects of the climate crisis.

Water bankruptcy begins with waste

The most immediate and most difficult figure to stomach is the one on network losses: in Italy, 37.9 per cent of the water fed into the pipes never reaches its destination — it is lost along ageing, patched-up pipelines whose routes are often unknown. In linear terms, that means 24 cubic metres lost per kilometre of network every day. This is not truly new information, as it broadly aligns with figures from recent years; but the real news is precisely the fact that, despite the drought plan and the PNRR funds, no serious remedial action has yet been taken. The Blue Book 2026 analyses a sample of more than 324,000 kilometres of pipelines: 30 per cent are over thirty years old, and more than 40,000 kilometres exceed fifty years of age.

These are infrastructures that in many cases date back to the post-war period and have never been systematically replaced. And the waste is not only of water: in 2024, more than 16 per cent of the electricity consumed by the water sector was used to pump water that was never drunk by anyone. The paradox is that the technology to reduce these losses already exists. Sensors, network districting, satellite monitoring of reservoirs: tools already operational in many parts of Italy. Yet only 38 per cent of networks are organised into districted areas that allow leaks to be detected and localised in real time.

The South that pays twice

If losses are a national problem, their geographical distribution tells another recurring story, one of inequality across every sector of Italian infrastructure. Linear dispersions range from 17 cubic metres per kilometre per day in north-west Italy to 41 in the South. But it is not simply a matter of pipelines: the South accounts for 66 per cent of municipalities still operating under direct management — so-called in-house management — which are often without the resources or expertise to invest. These fragmented operators invest on average just 22 euros per inhabitant per year, compared with 90 euros invested by industrial operators. The result is infrastructure that does not renew itself, that loses more water, and that delivers less.

But the Blue Book report records stark territorial disparities even in the number of hours of supply guaranteed across the macro-areas of the North and those of the Centre-South: now well into the first quarter of the twenty-first century, access to drinking water — a human right recognised by the UN since 2010 — is still not equal for all Italian citizens. Yet, according to Gianfranco Pederzolli, president of the federation of catchment consortia, "water is a strategic resource to be defended through integrated management, capable of holding together ecosystem protection and the development of mountain territories" — all the more so today, when "new technologies, including sensors, data and monitoring, help to reduce waste and territorial disparities, as well as to promote, where possible and in respect of the environment, the reuse of water. It is not enough to fund infrastructure works; we must understand and govern this resource as well as possible, together with the communities that steward it."

Pfas and agriculture

There is another figure that stands out, and that says a great deal about the country's priorities: the rate of reuse of treated wastewater. The estimated technical potential is 13.4 per cent. The actual rate is 3.4 per cent — less than a quarter of what is possible. In a Mediterranean country, parched in summer and flooded in winter, wasting already-treated water — which could be reused in agriculture, industry and urban irrigation — is a choice that carries a heavy cost. Italian agriculture, among the most productive in Europe precisely in the most water-intensive crops such as fruit and vegetables, is structurally dependent on water. Yet the reuse supply chain is struggling to take off for regulatory, infrastructural and cultural reasons. The report also flags the presence of new contaminants in water intended for human consumption: the notorious Pfas, the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as "forever chemicals," along with microplastics and cyanotoxins. Italy has transposed the new European directive by introducing limits more stringent than the minimum required: from 2026, a limit of 0.02 micrograms per litre will apply to the sum of the four Pfas with the highest bioaccumulation potential. This is good news, but it requires investment in monitoring and treatment that not all local authorities are in a position to sustain.

Ansa Economia @ansa_economia

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♥ 1 18 mar 2026 · Apri su X →

One fifth of GDP, yet it never makes the headlines

So far we have spoken of sustainability, life and human rights. But for those of a more pragmatic bent, it may be striking to learn that without water, according to Blue Book 2026 estimates, 20 per cent of Italy's GDP could not be generated — that is, 384 billion euros. In the Mediterranean basin, the broader water supply chain is worth 1,902 billion dollars, or 15 per cent of the entire area's GDP. Technology is coming to our aid, at least in one respect: thanks to the integration of optical and radar satellites, it is now finally possible to monitor the state of reservoirs in near real time and in any weather conditions, in order to rapidly identify situations of water scarcity in Italy and intervene through storage systems — because while it is true that water must not be wasted, it is equally true that today it is possible — and indeed necessary — to retain and conserve it wherever feasible. As Barbara Marinali, deputy chair of Utilitalia, observes: "Water cannot be substituted: it is the only factor of production that has no substitute, unlike what can happen with other energy resources." And yet it receives far too little attention: water, writes the Blue Book 2026, is "at once the foundation of life, an indicator of social justice and a pillar of ecological sustainability."