Lake Garda drought: Walkway through the lake surfaces

The water level in Lake Garda, Italy is the lowest it has been during the winter season in over 30 years.

The drought has caused a narrow strip of land to surface, connecting the mainland with the small island of San Biagio, in the province of Brescia.

Whilst this has allowed fascinated tourists to now walk through the middle of Lake Garda, as seen in the footage above, it is an alarming depiction of the drought they are facing. The water level here is now over 50cm below the seasonal average.

This situation causes great concern in Italy. The community of Lake Garda are trying to understand how to deal with the emergency in view of the irrigation season.

The water of the lake has to be sufficient for a large variety of uses, from the human supply of the municipalities in the area, to tourism, bathing and navigation.

The demand for water from agriculture is the largest issue right now, which will need a great deal of water from April onwards. To save money, the outflow from the lake into the Mincio River has been reduced.