DOWSERS - Drought in Sicily. According to the ORBS (Sicilian Regional Biodiversity Observatory), more than half of Sicily is at serious risk of desertification, with a recorded percentage of 70%. According to hydrological annals, last winter was one of the driest on record. The most affected part of the island appears to be the hinterland, in particular the provinces of Enna, Caltanissetta and Agrigento, where the low rainfall and almost empty basins are combined with a very old water network characterized by significant structural fragility which causes significant losses of water in many places. The greatest damage will obviously be in agriculture. As Mariangela Valvo, agronomist and farmer, explains to me, "The temperatures in the internal areas of the province of Enna (931m above sea level) have reached a peak of 27-28°C and this has led to an acceleration in the biological cycle of the wheat, which has skipped of the phenological stages that would have been decisive for defining the quantity and quality of the final product. This means that the wheat will not be harvested: a useless and very expensive operation. The same situation concerns fodder crops intended for feeding farm animals. This could lead to the closure of several livestock farms (a phenomenon that has already started a couple of years ago), as farmers will no longer be able to bear the cost of purchasing fodder imported from other regions."The various Reclamation Consortia of the Provinces affected by the drought phenomenon do their best to keep it efficient, but these efforts are in vain without a serious modernization of the water pipes. This is one of the many infrastructures in Sicily that should be modernized before talking about the possibility of building a bridge over the Strait, otherwise we will do nothing but connect the rest of the country to the largest Italian desert.