5. Water
Water Security as a Destination-Management Issue
Water is a strategic resource for Sardinia’s residents, agriculture, ecosystems, public services and visitor economy. It is also one of the clearest examples of why tourism cannot be managed separately from territorial and climate systems.
Tourism increases demand for drinking water, sanitation, swimming pools, landscaping, food service, accommodation, cleaning and recreational activity. In Sardinia, this demand is strongly seasonal. It tends to peak during the summer months, when rainfall is limited, temperatures are high, agricultural demand is substantial and coastal populations may rise sharply.
The 2024 drought demonstrated the island’s exposure. By 31 December 2024, Sardinian reservoirs contained around 750 million cubic metres of water, equal to 41% of authorised storage volume. Several strategic systems—including Alto Cixerri, Alto Taloro, Posada and Ogliastra—were reported at emergency, or “red-code”, level.[unionesarda]
This situation should not be interpreted as a permanent condition in every part of Sardinia. Water availability varies by basin, season and infrastructure system. However, it demonstrates that water security is a destination-resilience issue, not merely a utility-management concern.
| Water-system issue | Destination implication |
|---|---|
| Seasonal demand peaks | High summer occupancy can intensify demand when resources are most constrained |
| Drought | Reduced reservoir levels can lead to restrictions, operational uncertainty and competition between uses |
| Network losses | Water lost before reaching users increases pressure on scarce resources and raises system costs |
| Groundwater stress | Over-abstraction may affect ecosystems, coastal aquifers and water quality |
| Wastewater capacity | Peak-season accommodation demand can exceed local collection or treatment capacity |
| Water quality | Failures can affect public health, bathing water, marine ecosystems and destination reputation |
| Uneven infrastructure | Some localities may face greater vulnerability than island-wide averages suggest |
| Climate change | Higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may increase future water-security risks |
Academic research on climate adaptation in Sardinia identifies water planning as a core component of the regional response, alongside spatial planning, flood management, transport and environmental protection. The Regional Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change was adopted in May 2024 and provides a framework for managing risks across sectors.[mdpi]
Tourism should be explicitly incorporated within this framework. A destination cannot rely only on annual visitor totals when planning water capacity. It needs to understand daily and monthly demand by locality, accommodation type, occupancy, visitor profile and season.
The relevant question is not simply how much water Sardinia has in aggregate. It is whether water of suitable quality can be supplied reliably, efficiently and equitably to residents, ecosystems, agriculture, tourism businesses and visitors at the time and place it is needed.
This requires more than developing new supply. It requires demand management, leakage reduction, network interconnection where appropriate, wastewater treatment, reuse where safe and lawful, drought planning, water-efficient accommodation, monitoring of seasonal consumption and protection of water-dependent ecosystems.
For tourism businesses, water efficiency should not be framed merely as an environmental communication exercise. It can reduce operating risk and costs, particularly in drought-prone locations. Practical measures may include leak detection, smart metering, low-flow fittings, linen and towel policies designed with guest choice, efficient irrigation, drought-tolerant landscaping, rainwater capture where appropriate, staff training and transparent reporting of consumption.
At destination level, however, individual business measures are insufficient. Water resilience depends on the combined performance of utilities, municipalities, accommodation providers, agriculture, protected-area managers, planning authorities and users.
A sustainable tourism strategy for Sardinia should therefore treat water as a shared and finite territorial resource. The objective is not to allocate priority automatically to any one sector. It is to reduce avoidable demand, protect ecosystems, improve infrastructure efficiency and ensure that visitor growth does not weaken water security for residents, productive sectors or the natural systems on which the destination depends.