Sustainable use of water resources in Italy in the perspective of the CAP 2021-2027

Historically, the water resources management has been foreign to the CAP. The theme begins to be present in the 2007-2013 programming period, within the Rural Development Programs (Axis II) and limited to the qualitative protection of water. Even the EU Water Framework Directive focused, in 2000, only on the qualitative state of water. In the Communication of the Commission on Water Deficiency of 2007, the theme of a water price policy was introduced to encourage the efficient use of the resource (De Filippis, Zucaro, 2019). In the 2014-2020 programming period, the protection of water resources is one of the priority challenges for sustainable development, both in terms of quality (protection from pollution) and quantity (more efficient use of the resource). In Italy, the sustainable use of water has become a strategic priority of the 21 regional RDPs and the National RDP (De Filippis, Zucaro, 2019). In this context, the rational use of water resources is a strategic tool to pursue the economic and environmental sustainability of the agri-food sector. Therefore, this work aims to analyze the withdrawal of water in the primary sector in Italy and the conditions that influence the value of the water resource, evaluating the impacts on the water resource management deriving from the CAP reform proposal. Italy is among the most water-rich countries with an annual availability of 155 billion m3, equal to a per-capita volume of 2,700 m3. The estimated water footprint in Italy, referring to production or the total volume of water used in Italy for the production of goods and services, is about 70 billion m3 of water per year. Agriculture is the economic sector that uses greater volumes of water, equal to 85% of the total. The remaining 15% is divided between industrial production (8%) and domestic use (7%). The estimated water footprint in Italy, referring to withdrawals or the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services (in Italy and abroad) consumed in Italy, is about 132 billion m3 of water a year. Food consumption (both agricultural products and products of animal origin) contributes to 89% of the total daily water footprint of Italians (La Sala, 2019). The distribution of the Italian water network, with an extension of over 210,000 km, is very fragmented and the water losses deriving from the water network stand at an average value of 40% and are concentrated in the southern regions (Co.Vi.R.I., 2005; ISTAT, 2015). Italy is the second European country in terms of irrigated area, equal to 2.4 million hectares (ISTAT, 2010). The propensity to use irrigation potential (irrigated area / irrigable area) and the propensity to irrigation (irrigated UAA / total UAA) are respectively 65.6% and 19.3% (ISTAT, 2010). In Italy, about 35% of the water supply used by farms comes from groundwater. As regards the economic aspects connected to the use of irrigation water in agriculture and in the agri-food sector, the determination of the water value is an indispensable element for an efficient allocation of the resource connected to the minimization of the lower gain deriving from alternative uses of one insufficient resource stock to cover the entire demand. Agriculture for irrigation purposes is the first user of water resources and important impacts derive from it: quality of production and induced (industry, employment); environmental benefits; landscape; development of rural areas; food safety (La Sala, 2019). The theme of the impact and result indicators is not secondary in the management and, therefore, in the determination of the total economic value of the water (understood as the sum of the values of use and non-use), especially in view of the CAP 2021- 2027. The proposals on the new CAP confirm the structure on two pillars and report 3 general objectives that are articulated in 9 specific objectives that identify a less agricultural and more environmental and territorial CAP. In this framework, the water resources management increases its importance compared to the past, being explicitly mentioned in the specific objective 6 “Efficient management of natural resources such as water, soil and air” (De Filippis, Zucaro, 2019). But the challenges of the future CAP are above all in its governance, with important new features both in the New Delivery Model, that is a more focused and result-oriented support model, in terms of targets to be reached and indicators with which to evaluate achievement, both in the further widening of the margins of autonomy of the Member States, explicitly called upon to draft a national strategic plan, including both pillars, with which to apply the CAP in a flexible way, adapting it to its own national needs. Based on these analyzes, the conclusions of the work illustrate the opportunity to improve the water resources management within the two pillars of the new CAP.