With the scorching Mediterranean sun pounding over the historic landscapes of Greece, the nation has plunged into the single largest environmental challenge it has ever known in its history.
Following the warmest winter on record, Greek authorities warn of a serious water shortage that may overshadow the peak summer season in the country.
A Thirsty Nation in the Heat of Summer
ARMEND NIMANI/AFP via Getty Images
This unusually ripe April heatwave, forerunner to an exceptionally hot summer, has kicked off public service campaigns imploring the public to save water.
Slogans like "Want some water? Turn off the tap!" have become a common call to action throughout Athens, where its residents are being warned not to fill their baths.
The worst of it is in the Mornos reservoir, some 200 kilometers west of Athens. The water level of that key water supplier for the Attica region, which includes the capital and hosts more than a third of Greece's population, has 30 percent less water compared to last year. In total, water reserves for Attica have fallen almost a quarter.
Islands Lead in the Crisis
The situation is even more acute for the Greek islands, nearly all of which rely on wells or desalination plants. The tourist inflows, which have increased dramatically during the summer months, result in huge water demand sometimes as much as 100 times higher than in winter.
This surge in consumption, combined with what experts like Nikitas Mylopoulos, a professor of water resource management, described as bad water management, has brought many of the islands to the brink.
At the end of June due to malfunctions in its desalination plant, Leros declared a state of emergency. Others threatened by the potential water shortage include Sifnos and Chios, Lefkada, and even Corfu.
The overuse of water for amenities like swimming pools and large gardens is criticized by local authorities and residents, along with a lack of proper infrastructure to support the burgeoning tourism industry.
Moved by the crisis, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis went to Lefkada in July, announcing a big water supply scheme for the needs of the area.
Meanwhile, the country waits for more intense heat waves and wildfires-very graphic and brings home indications of the wider implications of climate change.
The warmest winter on record in Greece has also raised fears of a water shortage, with the country enduring its earliest-ever heatwave.
This is compounded by summertime demands for water, sometimes 100 times greater throughout the winter months, especially on islands reliant on wells and desalination plants.
This demand increases even more during the summer months with the inflows of tourist traffic. Mornos, which supplies water to Athens in the Attica region, has noted a major drop in store levels dropped 30 percent from last year.
The overall water reserves for Attica are down by nearly a quarter.
Experts attribute this to a combination of atmospheric circulation patterns that brought warm air masses from Africa to Europe, rising sea surface temperatures all over the globe, and human-induced climate change.
Together, they have caused record winter temperatures in some areas as high as 32 degrees Celsius.
To what extent is Greece suffering from a lack of water?
Water utility company EYDAP has put the area Attica-including the capital Athens-on a "yellow alert," asking residents to reduce consumption.
Indeed, infrastructure investments are underway. These concern the large water supply project Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced for Lefkada and other areas.
In this context, EYDAP has prepared a special plan to deal with extreme shortages, which provides for investments of about 750 million euros in the improvements required.
Of course, these are measures within the framework of the broader plan that guarantees sustainable management while minimizing the consequences of the crisis.
