ATHENS – No rain and endless heat have combined to bring a growing water shortage in Greece but golf courses and swimming pools for homes, villas, and luxury resorts are filled, even on islands where the supply is running out.

Record tourism is straining the infrastructure on popular islands like Santorini to the breaking point and warnings from municipal officials a crisis is coming but the government – while acknowledging there’s too many tourists – is wooing more.

Greece had a warm winter and record heat for June that has continued through July with temperatures near 100 degrees or more lingering, sending people scurrying to public beaches increasingly being taken over by private businesses.

In a review of the water problems, the site Inquirer noted a public service message that says, “Would you like some water? Turn off the tap!” and residents are being urged not to fill their bathtubs too much while swimming pools are topped off.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/242712/greece-fears-water-shortages-after-warmest-winter-ever

At the beginning of July, the Mornos reservoir around 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Athens, the main water source for the Attica region surrounding the capital, levels were down 30 percent from the same period last year, the report noted.

And overall reserves for the biggest prefecture of Attica, which includes Athens, were down nearly 25 percent over the same period, the water utility company EYDAP noted but there’s been few calls for water consumption to be reduced.

Attica has about 3.7 million residents, about a third of the country’s population and it was put on a Yellow Alert by EYDAP which urged people to save water but there’s been no general campaign by the government to do so.

The head of the water utility EYDAP, Charalambos Sachinis, has said a “special plan” had been drawn up “to deal with extreme water shortages,” including investments of around 750 million euros ($818 million) but didn’t outline it.

The problem is especially acute on islands which rely on wells and desalination plants to meet needs, but the resources are getting low without rain and not enough capacity to make sea water safe, and the demand of tourists.

TURN OFF THE TAP

On some islands suffering from overtourism, the demand for water in summer “is sometimes 100 times greater than in winter,” Nikitas Mylopoulos, a Professor of Water Resource Management at the University of Thessaly, told Agence France-Presse.

He said that the problem of mass tourism was being compounded by poor water management, as seen on the island of Leros which at the end of June declared a month-long emergency at the height of the tourism season.

The island’s council noted malfunctions at the desalination plant, alleging “poor maintenance in the past,” the news agency said, pointing to other islands facing water shortages including Sifnos, Chios, Lefkada and Corfu.

Sifnos’s Mayor, Maria Nadali, blamed “the over-consumption of water for swimming pools and watering large gardens,” and catering to tourists at a cost for residents, with luxury resorts popping up all around Greece, many with pools.

On Lefkada, Michalis Makropoulos, a local resident and author, said that there was a “deplorable” situation where “the water was cut off at the end of June for four consecutive days,” as it has become more popular.

He wrote in a newspaper article that the problem was caused by “years of mismanagement by the municipal authorities” and the “uncontrolled development of tourism without adequate infrastructure,” happening on other islands as well.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis traveled to Lefkada in July to announce “one of the largest water supply projects in Greece to cover the needs,” but the lack of rain and no predictions for any is bringing worry, worsened by endless heat.

Elissavet Feloni, a hydrologist at the National Technical University of Athens, said the company was also planning to tap Lake Yliki, around 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Athens, as an emergency source alongside the main Mornos reservoir.

“However, this is an energy-intensive solution because the water has to be pumped up, whereas the Mornos stream has a natural gradient,” she said. “For better water management, a central body needs to be set up to develop a comprehensive approach to resources across the country,” she added.

Reuters reported that the biggest reservoir on the island of Naxos has dried up, useful only to the turtles while downstream, sea water has seeped into empty irrigation wells, harming the island’s prized potato crop.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greek-islands-face-water-crisis-tourist-season-peaks-2024-07-09/

Further south, on Karpathos authorities have imposed restrictions on topping up swimming pools, while in the northern island of Thasos, officials are seeking a desalination unit to make seawater drinkable, the report added.

LET GOD DO IT

It’s not just drinking water or for household uses at risk now but for agriculture too, with farmers needing supplies that are drying up and no rain in sight and water diverted to non-essential uses such as watering gardens, lawns, pools and golf courses as Greece is focused on bringing in rich tourists and meeting their needs.

“There has been an intense shortage of rainfall across the Mediterranean and, on Naxos particularly, our surface reservoirs are empty,” Mayor Dimitris Lianos said of the problem worsening each day there’s no rain and more people needing water.

The island is among the popular spots in the summer, with a year round population of about 20,000 but in one of the driest land masses in the Aegean Sea, drawing tens of thousands of tourists daily for its renowned beaches.

The island’s two reservoirs hold 220,000 cubic meters (7.7 million cubic feet) of usable water, a third of last year’s level and the equivalent of just a few dozen Olympic swimming pools that aren’t being cut off.

Authorities have secured three portable desalination units that will treat sea water to make it safe to drink, and which Lianos said should cover the shortfall for houses, hotels and pools for now, the report added.

But that means farmers won’t get any of the treated water and have to rely on wells contaminated by sea water aquifers, threatening the famous potato crop that’s known for its buttery taste and protected under European Union origin rules.

Potato farmer Stelios Vathrakokoilis said his yields will be halved this year because of the salty irrigation water and less access to fresh water. “It’s a big disappointment because we humans didn’t succeed in anticipating that climate change would knock on our doors too,” he also said.

The water shortages have brought a demand for desalination units but there’s not enough to go around, with Greece-based manufacturer Sychem unable to meet requests because of a shortage of key components and longer building times, Chief Executive Alexandros Yfantis said. New units should be available after September.

“Since the problem is all around, any temporary equipment has been already leased,” Yfantis said, leaving Greeks and the government looking to the sky for rain and answers amid complaints of resource mismanagement.