Heatwaves throughout Europe this summer have caused the level of many rivers to fall, but in Italy's River Po, the lower water line uncovered an unexploded Second World War bomb.
The explosive was discovered on July 25 near the northern village of Borgo Virgilio, close to the city of Mantua, and on Sunday military experts defused and carried out a controlled explosion of the 450-kilogram bomb.
"The bomb was found by fishermen on the bank of the River Po due to a decrease in water levels caused by drought," Col Marco Nasi said.
It was no easy task to clear the device.
About 3,000 people living near by were moved to safety for the disposal operation, the army said.
The area's airspace was shut down, and navigation along that stretch of the river, along with traffic on a railway line and state road close by, were halted.
"At first some of the inhabitants said they would not move, but in the last few days, we think we have persuaded everyone," said Borgo Virgilio's Mayor, Francesco Aporti.
Mr Aporti said that if people had refused to go, operations would have been halted.
Iraqis battle drought as Lake Dukan retreats - in pictures
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Lake Dukan in Iraq is fed by a Tigris tributary, the Lower Zab river, which has its source in Iran. All photos: AFP -
For several years both the lake and the river have been shrinking, severely affecting the lives of farmers in the region. -
Bapir Kalkani, 56, farms near the picturesque lake but has seen marked changes over the past three years as Iraq suffers prolonged drought. "There was water where I'm standing now" in 2019, he says. "It used to go three kilometres further, but the level has retreated." -
The large artificial lake was created in the 1950s following construction of the Dukan dam, to supply irrigation and drinking water for the region, as well as to generate electricity. -
Farmers in the area used to dig shallow wells fed by the Dukan so they could irrigate their crops. Not any more. "The wells have lost 70 per cent of their water," Mr Kalkani says. -
Drought is not the only source of the farmers' water problems. Iran has built several dams on the Lower Zab, notably the Kolsa barrage. -
"The Kolsa dam has caused at least an 80 per cent drop in the water levels" of the Lower Zab, says Banafsheh Keynoush of the Washington-based Middle East Institute. She says Iran is going through one of the worst droughts in its history and has had to revise its irrigation policy. "Iran is on a dam-building spree, and many of its dams are small," she says. -
The Dukan dam in Iraq has also been badly affected by the reduced river flow, says its director Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq. "Now we have only 41 per cent, below half of the capacity" of the dam, he says. -
It supplies drinking water for 'about three million people in Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk', two major cities downstream, he says. But at only 300 mm of rainfall last year - half the previous annual average - the skies have not been generous. And Mr Tawfeeq says 2022 is on track to mirror last year's figures. -
"We are releasing 90 cubic metres per second," the director says. "When the reservoir is full, we release 200 to 250." -
Tawfeeq says farmers are being told "not to grow crops that need too much water". -
He says Baghdad sent teams to Iran to discuss the reduced flow of the Lower Zab river, but "there's no co-operation from the Iranians". Iran contends its river flow contribution into the Tigris and Euphrates basin is only about 6 per cent, according to Ms Keynoush. -
"What Iran is trying to say is: 'The Euphrates and Tigris problems you have are really between you and Turkey'," where the two main rivers have their sources, she says. But Iraq itself is not above criticism, says Azzam Alwash, founder of the Nature Iraq non-government organisation and presidential adviser. -
The Iraqi Kurdistan government in the north plans to construct new dams but the projects lack any co-ordination with Baghdad, Mr Alwash says. Downstream, in central and south Iraq, the situation is being exasperated by a lack of modernisation of water resources and could result in disaster, he warns.
Bomb disposal engineers removed the fuse from the US-made device, which the army said contained 240kg of explosive.
Then the bomb squad, escorted by police, transferred the device to a quarry in Medole municipality, about 45 kilometres away, where it was destroyed.
Italy declared a state of emergency last month for areas surrounding the Po, which is the country's longest river.
It accounts for about a third of Italy's agricultural production and is suffering its worst drought for 70 years.
