“Water: There’s not enough. Therefore, we are careful to have it.” This was the message Athenians were “bombarded” with every day in the campaign for water conservation during the great drought of the late 1980s and into the mid-1990s. With the level in the water supply basins having fallen below the alarm limits, the capital seemed to be running out of the liquid of life and the authorities took drastic measures. Thus, it was something of a… mortal sin to wash the car with the hose, to “cool” the pavement or not to have a brick in the flush. Those days are gone and water scarcity is forgotten. How likely are we to experience it again?

At EYDAP these days they are looking for solutions, as the reserves in the water reservoirs for Attica have begun to fall to dangerous levels. The capital has already started implementing the emergency plan, pulling water from the Yliki River as well. But it is not only Athens. Leros is declared a state of emergency due to the water shortage, on Paros demand is impossible to meet, while on dozens of other islands a solution is being sought to prevent the taps from running dry. In Halkidiki, water trucks have already been mobilised, while in Crete the ‘solution’ of shutting down irrigation so that Leventogenna does not run out of water is being considered. “We are experiencing a particularly unfavourable hydrological situation,” say the scientists, “because of the prolonged drought. The drought is now showing its teeth…

A total of 14 municipalities in the country have been declared a state of emergency by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection. Among them are five municipalities of Crete, Serifos, Sifnos, Leros, Poros, Spetses, the municipality of Sami in Kefalonia and areas in Corinth, Alexandroupolis and Xanthi.

Athens on alert

The great water shortage of the 1990s was not the only period when the capital almost went without water. In December 2008, Athens was left with just 419 million cubic metres of water, enough to meet its needs for just one year, but reservoir supplies more than doubled almost immediately after the rains until the following May. Today, the situation is different. At the end of this hydrological season, reservoirs had 700 million cubic meters of water, up from 950 million last September. To appreciate the rate at which the water level from which Attica is thirsting is falling, it is enough to mention the fact that in September 2022 the water in the reservoirs was 1.1 billion cubic metres.

With the reservoirs of EYDAP showing a 24% reduction in their reserves this year compared to last year, water shortages used to be demonstrated by the houses in the submerged village of Kallio on the Morno River. Today, the reserves are recorded much more accurately than the satellite data processed by climatebook. On this basis, therefore, the extent of Athens’ main water supply reservoir is estimated to be the smallest since 2010 when very high-resolution satellite observations were available. In fact, according to the satellite data processed by climatebook from the Sentinel-2 satellite, while a year ago, on 2 July 2023, the total surface area of the reservoir was about 16.5 square kilometers, this year, on 26 June, it was estimated at about 12.8 square kilometers. In this time period, the lake area is 15%-20% shrinking compared to the average since 2010. We note that the capital consumes an average of 400 million cubic meters of water per year.

And why is this happening? Scientists attribute the water scarcity hitting Athens to what… we imagined. The very mild winter we’ve had this year, with minimal snowfall in the mountains (from which no melting occurred to provide the water table) and an absence of rain, was followed by a completely arid spring and a very hot summer with record-breaking temperatures. The above is the “perfect recipe” for water scarcity.

Hydrologists say it will all depend on the course of the next few months in terms of rainfall, but that doesn’t mean that if it rains the reservoirs will fill up with water. This is because, as they explain, if the pattern of recent years of rapid rainfall continues, there will be virtually nothing to offer the water table. This is because, when a large volume of rain falls suddenly, the water does not have time to penetrate into the ground and is lost, so the drought phenomenon is not being combated. Unfortunately, this pattern seems to be becoming permanent in Attica, where there is extreme drought, a reduction in the number of days of rainfall and a ‘gathering’ of rainfall in a more limited period of time. In June, for example, according to data from the meteo.gr scientific team of the National Observatory, not a single drop of rain was recorded in Athens, as well as in Livadia and Sparta, in contrast to the monthly averages for the period 2007-2023, which were 21, 40 and 35 mm respectively.

“Mound” €3 billion

To keep the taps from running dry, EYDAP is increasing its investment plan by €700 million to €3 billion, focused on tackling the climate crisis and ensuring the adequacy of water resources. In the first phase, it has been decided to “throw” into the system the wells of Mavrosouvalas, in Parnitha, but also the springs of the middle course of the Boeotian Kifissos, which are near Yliki. This solution has an energy cost, as the water that Attica currently receives from the Mornos and Evinos rivers comes by gravity, while in the above two cases it is pumped from underground. But at least this way it ensures that the capital city will have water at least for the next 4 years to give EYDAP time to develop the next phase of the water scarcity plan.

The company’s long-term plans include solutions such as the reuse of recycled water from the Psyttalia and Thriasio treatment centers for industrial and irrigation use, the enrichment of the aquifer with recycled water, the development of hydroelectric power plants and pumped storage on the Mornos, further exploitation of the Yliki reservoir and expansion of existing reservoirs.

“Drying” the islands

And it is not only Attica. Besides, the European Drought Observatory has declared 100% of the Greek territory “in a state of warning”, while some parts of it are “in a state of alert” as far as water shortage is concerned. Thus, it is rather… fate that a large part of the country – and especially the islands – is facing a very serious water shortage problem. Because the water shortage caused by climatic conditions is compounded by the very high demand brought about by over-tourism and activities such as filling swimming pools!

Typical is the case of Leros, which was declared a state of emergency, since the boreholes can no longer provide water, while the desalination plants do not solve the problem, which makes the Navy send water to the island. In Meganisi, since the water is not enough, water supply interruptions have begun, while in Chios the Katrari dam that supplies the island with water is running dry, since not even 1 liter of water was added this year (!), as well as the boreholes, so the island is in danger of being without water at the end of the summer. The situation is not improved by the fact that tourism more than triples the population of Chios in the summer, pushing it to 150,000 inhabitants. The picture is similar in Lefkada, which has been put on alert, and in Paros, where water consumption increased by 34% in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, when consumption was at record levels. Local authorities estimate that around 10% of total consumption is directed to swimming pools and that 70% of consumption from the afternoon onwards is directed to watering gardens in homes, hotels and Airbnb’s.

In Naxos, the scarce rainfall of the last two years has left the island’s surface reservoirs with little reserves, which is planned to be solved by producing water through desalination. In Sifnos, the local authorities are calling for the island to be declared a state of emergency, sending a message of awareness to all because of what they see as wasteful use. In June the consumption figures were alarming and the estimate for the July-October period is higher than the water production, according to the municipal authorities.

From Crete to Halkidiki

In Crete, five municipalities have been declared in a state of emergency due to water shortages. In Heraklion, there is no water for irrigation as the Faneromeni dam that irrigates crops has dried up. And to think it had 18 million cubic meters of water. In Viannos the boreholes have reached their maximum limit before they “catch” salt water. There is also a problem in mainland Greece. In Halkidiki, the municipality of Nea Propodida is literally without water. The local authorities are reducing the water supply for some hours to residents and for some hours to the seven hotels in the area. Water trucks are also being mobilised. In Thessaly, the farmers say with great pain that ‘in winter we drown and in summer we go thirsty’. It is perhaps the only phrase that can accurately describe what is happening.

Scientists say the region is in the crosshairs of drought for desertification and that if it had not been for the disastrous floods this year, which filled Lake Plastira with water and provided water for the Local Improvement Organizations of Tavropou and Pinios, there would have been a huge problem. In the Evros Delta, those wild horses that don’t drop dead from thirst are kept suffering and dehydrated. Earlier, the river was washing up dead fish as the sea entered it, turning what little available water it had left into brackish water unfit for drinking. In Serres, farmers and residents have reached such a level of desperation from the water shortage that they went to the River Angitis with a priest and held a litany for rain!

Scientists say that this hydrological season – if one excludes Epirus and Western Macedonia – is characterized by drought. Rainfall has been limited, especially in the areas that we have noticed have a very big problem of running out of water. In Attica, the rain that fell this year is equal to 57% of the average rainfall for the decade 2010-2019, in Heraklion (Moires) 40%, in Agios Nikolaos 55%, in Pyrgos 50%, in Lamia 55% and in Thessaloniki 52%. The data available to meteo.gr for the period October – April (which “traditionally” is the rainiest of the year) show that in most of the country rainfall has decreased by up to 50% compared to the values of the previous decade.

Somehow, in suffering areas the first emergency solutions are drilling. But these – as we see in Crete, but also in Thessaly – due to the lack of water in the water table are directed deeper and deeper, after 350-400 meters, now encountering brackish water. And when the subsoil offers such water, drought is now a fact. Unless the weather pattern changes and it starts to rain all the time.