Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
Italy water industry - statistics & facts
Water is a critical resource for human survival and all economic activities of a society. In Europe, Italy is the country with the largest amount of water withdrawals and drinkable water consumed per capita. One might imagine people in Italy taking endless showers and boiling liters of water for their daily pasta dish, but it is actually irrigation, farming, and industrial processes which account for over 70 percent of the water withdrawals in Italy. On the other hand, Italian consumers do not have full use of the eight billion cubic meters of water that is put into the public distribution network each year since an astonishing 40 percent of it is lost to leakage due to aging infrastructure. Italy’s recovery and resilience plan (PNRR) allocated a part of its funds for the renovation of the national water supply system, although works should not start before 2024.
