Alarm bells for water scarcity have been ringing for quite some time with the problem being significant on the islands in the peak of the tourist season where water consumption needs skyrocket and following a minimum of rainfalls in the last few months.
The problem on the islands worsens not only due to increased population in the summer months and the absence of upgraded infrastructure but apparently also due to the high number of swimming pools that “swallow” big amounts of the available water resources and are considered as an indicator of over-consumption of water and over-tourism.
On the island of Paros, for example, the local citizens organization Save Paros has counted a total of 1,200 swimming pools using google tools. If one takes into consideration that residences with swimming pools have normally also a big garden and other facilities that need a lot of water the problem is more than obvious.
Number of swimming pools on Cyclades islands here
In addition, not only touristic islands are being affected but also regions on the mainland such as the popular destination of Halkidiki, for example, where locals and visitors have been complaining about water cuts over several hours during the day. There have been reports that tourists left the area during the heatwave in the first two weeks of July demanding their money back.
The islands of Sifnos and Leros have been already declared in a state of emergency, while in Attica, a decrease in water stocks has been recorded.
The water shortage does not only affect the local population and tourists but also the agriculture and the wildlife.
Alarming are the news of water scarcity coming also from eastern Macedonia where local authorities desperately try to find solutions to the problem with water cuts. Daily macedonia.gr reported today that 50 million cubic meters of water were released from Thisavros dam for agricultural use, where a total of 168 millions were released fro the same purpose in 2021.
The particularly alarming situation is complemented by sad images such as the one of the iconic and uniquely beautiful park of the springs of Agia Barbara in the center of the city of Drama, where the springs have dried up. Local authorities are seriously considering the possibility of relocating the waterfowl that live in the the ponds.
Before
After
At the same time, some TOEBs (Local Water Improvement Organizations) no longer have any water for ecological supply, with what this means for the survival of wetlands, since, as they emphasize, the needs for irrigation are very large and there is no scope to allocate quantities for other use.
Dead wild horses in the Delta of Evros River
At least 6 wild horses have found dead in the Delta of the Evros River in north-eastern Greece in the last couple of days due to lack of water as water from the sea has entered into the river after Turkey stopped the flow of fresh sweet water from the dam. Other horses show symptoms of dehydration.
Local activists rushed to help the animals with drinking water and hay.
“The problem is that the water has become 100% seawater and the horses were forced to drink seawater,” says Nikos Mousounakis, the president of the Ainisios Delta association told Mega TV.
“Particularly unfavorable water shortages”
Speaking on Naftemporiki TV, hydrologist and lecturer at the University of Western Attica, Elissavet Feloni, spoke of a “particularly unfavorable hydrological situation” and pointed to the high temperatures of the last few months, combined with the lack of rain in the previous period.
Regarding Attica, she said that in September it seems that there will be calls to raise the alert level, while she underlined that the big problem is the islands. “The Attica Basin is currently on yellow alert” she pointed out adding that the data show that reserves tend to decrease.
Regarding the islands, she spoke of insufficient infrastructure and lack of maintenance of the desalination units, but also of over-tourism, combined with the increase in construction and the uncontrolled use of water in swimming pools.
“As hydrologists say, dry years persist, we have increased temperatures and decreased rainfall, this period looks like it will last another period,” Feloni noted.
She clarified that “we don’t want rapid rainfall, because they don’t have time to penetrate the ground, we want as much “layered” rainfall as possible, in contrast to the characteristic pattern of recent years”.
She also referred to the reduced snowfalls of recent years.
Hydrologist Feloni pointed out that the issue of water management is linked to political will and noted that consumption control and information campaigns are needed. “My opinion is that a national body is needed, a special center to monitor water, in order to have a single data network, ” she underlined
“We’re worried about next year”
Mayor of Naxos and Small Cyclades, Dimitris Lianos, noted that the lack of rain in the last two years has caused a significant water deficit, with the surface reservoirs of the municipality having very few reserves. He noted that because the problem was identified early, a plan was created to produce water through desalination. He noted, however, that these are costly measures.
“It is important that we will not face any problem, based on the planning we have done for 2024. We are worried about next year” he underlined. As he mentioned, in addition to tourist activity, Naxos also has agricultural production. He also noted that targeted, test drilling was done in rural areas.
“The needs grow every year, both in the permanent population, but also due to tourism, and planning is needed,” he stressed.
Regarding tourism, he said that the local urban planning and spatial planning for the whole country must be completed.
“It is important to define land uses and settlement boundaries. It is the most important tool” he pointed out and added that specific actions are needed to limit the over-consumption of water.
Mayor of Leipsi island, Fotis Maggos, referred to the sustainable tourism development model on the island south of Samos in the Aegean Sea.
“We don’t have bins in public places, we don’t have swimming pools and umbrellas on beaches, and this makes our island completely different in terms of the tourism approach and the way we want to see visitors. We think this is an authentic way to vacation.”
Regarding the island’s water autonomy, with zero leaks, he pointed out that he is in favor of a holistic approach to environmental issues. “It’s not just water, it’s also waste management, it’s the need to reduce the energy footprint.”
Gov’t discovers how to solve water problem on the islands
With the use of desalination and the production of green energy, the Ministry of Environment and Energy will deal with the water shortage faced by many islands, Minister Theodoros Skylakakis announced on Thursday, July 27 [!] as local and international media reports on the problem are now daily.
The ministry is working on a plan to deal with the water shortage that includes the construction of hybrid power generation units with wind turbines, solar panels, pumped storage and desalination units that will be used to produce electricity and fresh water for water supply and irrigation.
Pumped storage will be used both for energy production with hydroelectric turbines and as energy storage as during times when energy demand will be low and production from wind and photovoltaics exceeds consumption, the excess energy will be used to return water to the upstream reservoir in order to be reused for power generation.
The announcement of the projects is expected in the autumn, while funding of 200 million Euros has been secured from the Decarbonization Funds.
Through the announcement, interested island municipalities facing water shortage problems will be invited to submit their proposals.
PS That the water problem was already mention in 2020 did not bother the conservative government to start working on a plan to solve it in July 2024.
Of course, the water supply for the islands which are part of the ‘heavy industry of the country, i.e. the tourism” is the focus of the government and not the agriculture or the wildlife and maybe soon also the animal farming.
But that’s what Greek governments without a vision and a thorough plan about the citizens of the country do: They try to find solutions when the “sh*t has reached the sock” as the wise folks in Greece say.
Every or most every new hotel and refurb includes a small pool for every single room despite being only minutes from the4 sea, The evaporation alone is terrifying
funny to see that crook lianos talking about naxos.
the truth is quite different: his, as well as all previous, mayors and councils, have on the one hand, for many years neglected any investment in runoff management, improving aquifer recharge, forest protection, or water conservation efforts. instead, all theyve all done, is drill more wells, deeper, pumping the aquifers down faster. Meanwhile, those administrations have for years been a clique of large-scale hotel owners, and so the fact that now we have 20 thousand actual citizens (or a bit fewer) , but 100 thousand tourists, on the island, has simply become a bottomless pit with neverending demands.
There are 100 thousand more people flushing toilets, taking multiple showers a day, in hotels watering acres of lawns and ‘gardens’ , with hundred or thousands of swimming pools, driving around in thousands of rental cars that are always freshly washed every few days when they change hands, even while for actual citizens, watering a garden (for food to eat, not for a lawn!) or washing ones car is forbidden with a penalty..
yes, we had two poor years back to back. that’s happened before, but with lower demands on the water supply and with less damage to the aquifers, and with better aquifer recharge in older times (both forest cover as well as all those old terraces, were in better shape), we never had the problems we have now.
So even after drilling several new wells even this year, they also brought in very expensive desalination units. That’s to supply the wasteful tourist industry, but he also wants everyone else to pay for that, and not just the hotels which are using the lions share of the water. so domestic rates have been doubled (roughly) this year and rates for businesses , in some cases, are 6x higher now… especially hard on small businesses which have nothing to do with tourism.
what we need is a hard limit on the number of tourists on the island at any given time. at the very least the limit should be that there should never be more tourists on the island than actual citizens!
So, a.citizen, you are blaming the tourists for the crisis in water supply! Should you not blame the industry, i.e. the over-etablation of hotels. The more accomodations that is established (by either foreign chains or locals) the more tourists that take a toll on the water. Right?? Then you have to blame your own people because they (shortly!) like a piece of the income… Fully understandable BUT it will not last! Sadly it will, like in the 90ties, mean a whole lot of abandoned hotel properties.
I lived in Malta in the early 1970’s – there was ONLY desalinated water – it was pretty undrinkable and the salt flats were SO stinky!
“what we need is a hard limit on the number of tourists on the island at any given time. at the very least the limit should be that there should never be more tourists on the island than actual citizens!”
Sadly parasites always do everything possible to keep feeding on the host.
The whole of Europe (at least) needs a very different system to how it is now.
So Paros, with an area of 196sq.km, has 1200 pools. Now try Paxos, only 30sq.km with more than 1400 pools! And more in construction! How long will it take for the authorities to finally realize this is not sustainable & pool licences must be stopped? But of course then they cannot collect the taxes, so us locals who do not have or want a pool are left to suffer without municipal water for days & days.
“On the island of Paros, for example, the local citizens organization Save Paros has counted a total of 1,200 swimming pools using google tools. If one takes into consideration that residences with swimming pools have normally also a big garden and other facilities that need a lot of water the problem is more than obvious.”
I’m in Crete and in my area, apart from “up market villas” most non-locally owned residences have pools that take up virtually all outside space and the people who own them think nothing of filling their chemical baths with tap water. The big villas with some land will no doubt have an agricultural supply and that should be used for agriculture and nothing else.