VATICAN CORNER
Vatican authorities have turned off 100 fountains, including two Baroque masterpieces in St. Peter’s Square as well as the interior fountains, including those in the Vatican Gardens. The purpose of the shut-offs is to save water during the prolonged drought that is affecting the tiny county and the large surrounding city of Rome. For two years the area has received lower than average rainfall, and this spring was the driest in 60 years. Also a summer heat wave has ravaged southern Europe, contributing to wildfires across parts of southern Italy and two-thirds of Italy’s farmland has been affected. Financial losses are over 2.3 billion dollars. The Vatican’s decision followed after the Roman authorities began turning off some 2,500 drinking fountains throughout Rome. They are free-standing, cylindrical fountains, nicknamed “nasoni” or big noses. They were installed in 1874 in order to provide clean, free, easily accessible drinking water for Romans and for street markets. The fountains are still used and depended on daily. The ancient Romans realized that they needed clean imported water for their cities in order to have their baths, fountains and drinking water. The Romans carefully checked the sources of water, with the really prized water coming from springs. The Romans constructed the aqueducts to bring the water from the sources to the City. They dug underground tunnels to transport water, built walls and constructed long drama c and beautiful archway when the landscape dipped down, since the system worked using gravity and the aqueducts were designed to gently and constantly slope towards the city. Some ancient Roman aqueducts are still in use today, but generally in part and/or after reconstruction. The famous Trevi fountain in Rome is still fed by aqueduct water from the same sources. Some aqueducts have been converted to pressurized pipe system and some are now used only for irrigation. Today’s modern water supply systems follow the same courses to the same sources as the ancient ones. The Romans always kept the water flowing in the water distribution system to prevent costly blockages and for cleaning the waste drains of the city. The overflow keeps everything clean, and then eventually flushes out into the Tiber River. But today it is calculated that 40% of the fresh water in the distribution system is lost through leaks in the aqueducts and ruptured pipes. So a decaying water system is making the current drought worst. Of the fountains in Rome that are being turned off, a minimum of 85 will be kept open in order to continue to quench people’s thirsts in the hot summer. Vatican authorities cannot remember ever being forced to turn off the fountains. It is the Vatican’s way, with its 800 residents to stand side-by-side in solidarity with the 4.3 million metropolitan Rome residents. Water that comes to the Vatican essentially comes from the same places that serve Rome. The Vatican is trying to help Rome get through the crisis, and turning off the fountains is in line with Pope Francis’ thinking of caring for the planet and its resources by reducing waste and using sacrifice when necessary. Water rationing in Rome was being considered, however on July 28, 2017, an agreement was reached to continue to drain a nearby lake until Sept. 1. A Roman environmental minister said that by keeping water running in one of Europe’s most popular tourist cities, Rome will avoid “making a dreadful impression internationally.”
Source: theguardian.com, reuters.com, cnn.com, cbsnews, npr.org, telegraph.co, phys.org,pbs.org.