A historic drought has forced northern Italy to take drastic measures. 125 municipalities in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions have recently been asked to stop or throttle the drinking water supply to households at night. The association of water and energy suppliers Utilitalia sounded the alarm in view of the extreme drought, especially in the areas through which the Po, Italy’s longest river, flows.

The Po River Authority reported the worst drought and lowest water level in 70 years. In many places only a trickle remains of the normally mighty river.

“The situation is getting worse and worse,” Meuccio Berselli told the Ansa news agency. “In some areas it hasn’t rained for 110 days.” Dozens of communities are already using tankers to transport water because the water reservoirs are empty.