Greece faces fresh crisis as Europe heatwave hits country in peak tourist season

Greece is in the midst of a severe water crisis as its capital grapples with record-breaking temperatures in the peak tourist season. Warnings and appeals are being issued to spread awareness about water conservation among the general population.

In Athens, appeals in the media and on social networks are broadcast daily to raise public awareness.

“Would you like some water? Turn off the tap”, one warning reads.

At the beginning of July, 200 km west of Athens, the artificial lake of Mornos, the primary water reservoir for Attica – the region encompassing the capital – exhibited a 30 percent year-on-year decline in reserves, according to data from the regional public operator Eydap.

Overall, reserves for Attica have decreased by 24 percent over the same period. Eydap, which has placed the region on yellow alert, is urging its 3.7 million residents – one-third of Greece‘s population – to closely monitor their water usage.

Nikitas Mylopoulos, professor of Water Resource Management at the University of Thessaly, told AFP that on some islands that have fallen victim to the success of tourism, demand for water in summer “is sometimes a hundred times greater than in winter”.

This expert also deplores “poor water management in Greece, with a lack of waterworks” and “frequent wastage of water by farmers when irrigating their land”.

At the end of June, the Civil Defence declared Leros “in a state of emergency” for a month.

‌The mayor’s office on this Dodecanese island attributed the issues to malfunctions in the desalination plant caused by a lack of “maintenance in the past”.

Other islands, including Sifnos in the Cyclades, Chios in the northern Aegean, Lefkada and Corfu in the Ionian Sea (west), as well as the vast plains of mainland Greece and Macedonia (north), are also facing threats of water shortages.

The drought has worsened this year in a Mediterranean country used to summer heat waves.

According to the official data, the mildest winter on record was followed by high temperatures in spring, particularly in June, which was the hottest since 1960.

Greece also suffered an early heatwave, with temperatures reaching 44C locally at the beginning of June, while these days the mercury is rising to 41-42C.