The other side of Harry: in addition to having sown damage along the coast, the cyclone, with the help of the rains that followed it, also filled the island's artificial reservoirs.

An exceptionally rainy January provided Sardinians with just under 600 million cubic meters of water. In one month, regional reserves nearly doubled: at the end of December, they stood at 717.11 million cubic meters, less than 40 percent of the maximum authorized storage capacity (1,824 million cubic meters). As of January 31, the water reserve stood at 1,313 million cubic meters, 72 percent of maximum capacity.

A year ago, for comparison, we had 906 million cubic meters: 400 million fewer than today. And not only that: given the weather forecast for the coming weeks (unstable, with frequent rains), it's very likely that by the end of February or at the end of March, reserves will reach double the end-of-December level. In other words, the drought emergency in Sardinia is over.

Stop the restrictions

By 2026, we certainly won't hear about restrictions on the use of drinking water. And most likely, there won't even be any limits on the use of water for irrigation: the only margin of uncertainty concerns the Nurra region, where reservoir filling rates are about twenty points below the regional average, but there are good reasons for hope.

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