I presume that water as a resource is precious in Italy. However, since there's barely mention of this on this site,I suspect that it's not too much of an issue. Although,in"Judith from Umbria"blog,the threat of fines by officials for watering her garden (town water?) has me assuming that some conservation measures are taken.Or,are these measures specific to Umbria? My partner Al and I visit his extended family in Rome often.The Patriarch in particular voices his concern about declining water quality and escalating cost. We are planning to buy a house in Umbria/Tuscany soon. And we'd like to be prepared. Thanks.And thanks to Christina for initiating this site.

During the hottest summer months (july - august) also my town council forbid to water the gardens before a certain hour ( I think it is before 8PM).
This is for two reasons: if you water the plants before that hour a lot of water will evaporate before reaching the roots; it is better to leave water gardening during the non peak hours.
And I live in a healthy wealthy small town in the Pianura padana, not far from mountains and so on. I presume it is an issue in the remote areas of the south.

Yes, water is becoming more of a concern. It's coming up more and more in the newpapers I read. I know down here (from Foggia to Lecce) they lowered our water pressure a little just recently to slow people's usage. We're having a pretty dry winter. The summers are always very dry but it's when we don't get the rain in the winter that we have a problem. Most people don't have gardens or pools so I don't think we use that much. They even want to bring back the Carrubo tree (St John's Bread) because it doesn't need as much watering as olive trees and this tree used to be very common here.

Jeffo

Thanks Pola and Jeffo. I guess you've answered my query.I'll be prepared to use the various measures that are already in place around our property here in Australia.We are a very dry continent and experiencing the worst drought in 100 years,in my area. The idea of planting the Carob sounds great. It survives all sorts of knocks and the pods as you probably know,are a useful food source.

If you are looking to buy a house in rural Umbria or Tuscany, be aware that you may not have the option of "mains" water, and might need to rely on a well or a borehole.

The property might include a well, and this old well might be sufficient. However, it might not, in which case you may have to confront the cost of making a deep borehole, (ballpark 12,000 euros including all control gear).

Drilling a borehole, or making sophisticated automated arrangements to manage inadequate old wells, (or indeed inadequate public supplies) is reasonably common in Italy, so the equipment and installation costs are not exorbitant.