ATHENS – Worries are growing over water shortages across Greece with no substantial rain for months, a lingering heat wave, and supplies being used for swimming pools, including for tourist resorts on islands.

State broadcaster ERT said the problem is extensive, including on the mainland even as the government is pursuing more luxury resorts, many advertising huge infinity swimming pools as a draw.

It’s most acute on islands where infrastructure is being strained because of hordes of tourists descending on them in summer, with Serifos in a water emergency for a fourth month and Thasos drilling new wells.

The report said that the tiny island of Agathonisi in the Dodecanese, near Turkey’s mainland, has resorted to more use of desalination units at a high cost while Platanias in Hania on Crete also is under emergency conditions.

Besides water for drinking and business and home use, farmers also need vast amounts for irrigation and luxury resorts – there are hundreds of hotels and high-end accommodations with swimming pools use it too, as do golf courses.

The Polygyros municipality in Central Macedonia advised residents and tourists to be careful how much they use and not to wash cars and driveways and said there’s not enough to even water their gardens.

Scientists are pushing the government to develop cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solutions to what is becoming a crisis but despite the shortages there hasn’t been a widespread ban on use during high tourist season.

The problem, largely ignored, is getting worse, a year after the small island of Lipsi in the Dodecanese discouraged – but didn’t bar – more swimming pools as it tried to become more cautious with water use.

“Our views on holidays do not belong in the past but the future, when the islands of the Mediterranean will be forced to follow our example to protect the environment and deal with out-of-control heatwaves and water shortages,” said Mayor Fotis Maggos about the approach there.

“Through our initiatives, we are offering travelers an unspoilt natural paradise. The response from the high-quality public in Greece and abroad is huge, leading to an impressive increase in demand for the island in recent years,” he added.

Island authorities produced a short video that follows a young couple as they enjoy an idyllic holiday swimming in “natural pools” of azure waters, threading their way through the narrow alleys of traditional island architecture, enjoying culinary delights and spending their days hiking, riding, scuba diving and taking boat trips.

Lipsi was working on becoming a model destination for water autonomy with zero water waste, implementing a groundbreaking program for the planting of seabed gardens, which could provide future solutions for dealing with global pollution.

In April 2023, officials on the island of Sifnos, worried “about the destruction of its cultural heritage,” asked the state to halt cave houses, ban private swimming pools and enforce stricter measures to protect it from tourist development.

They pointed to the licensing of swimming pools in residential areas, “which exacerbates the problem of water scarcity,” but with so many tourists now discovering that island it’s still going on.

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, blaming poor water management.