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    Preventing a water crisis in Greece

    Demand for water is outstripping supply in Greece and climate change is making it worse. Greece needs to act now to secure its water future.

    Preventing a water crisis in Greece
    3:02
    Water is an increasingly precious commodity in Greece, and climate change could leave many high and dry in the not-too-distant future. What can be done to conserve our freshwater supply?
    ByJon Heggie
    Published May 27, 2020
    This is Paid Content. The editorial staff of National Geographic was not involved in the preparation or production of this content.

    The island of Nisyros emerges from the crystal blue waters of the Aegean, its rugged coastline dotted with dark green olive trees and whitewashed houses that cling precariously to the hillside. Against this idyllic backdrop, a ferry unloads dozens of visitors, intent on soaking up the sun as they explore the beaches, town, and famous volcano before stopping at a café for a cooling drink. Gratefully sipping a glass of cold water, most visitors are largely unaware of the true value of the transaction taking place. Here, as on many Greek islands, demand for water is outstripping supply.

    Taken as a whole, Greece has one of the best per capita water supplies in the Mediterranean, but its precipitation varies enormously across the country. While the west is relatively wet and the mountains can get 85 inches (2,150mm) of rainfall a year, other regions have barely 15 inches (400mm) of rain—much less than they need to satisfy demand. This imbalance sees areas such as Attica, Thessalonica, and the southern Aegean Islands facing long-term water shortages. And climate change is set to make a bad situation worse.

    By 2050, Greece could be 3.6 Fahrenheit (2°C) warmer with 18 percent less rainfall. Droughts could become more frequent and intense, while groundwater recharge, on which much of Greece depends, could continue to fall. Greece draws more than 40 percent of its usable water from groundwater aquifers—often more on the islands. But in many places, such as the island of Crete and Corinth city, groundwater is being extracted faster than it can be naturally recharged; not only does this steadily drain the aquifer but it also allows saltwater to seep in and contaminate the whole supply.

    Inhabited Greek islands face particular water problems. Small catchment areas, low rainfall and geology make it impossible for some to store sufficient water, causing severe shortages during the summer when demand peaks with increased irrigation and an influx of tourists that can swell the population tenfold. Until recently, many islands had to rely on expensive water transfers from the mainland, but in the 1960’s some islands began exploring desalination. After many faltering and failed attempts, desalination is now being proposed as the best long-term water solution for the islands.

    Desalination technology has advanced significantly in recent years with two methods being increasingly deployed. Reverse osmosis sees seawater pumped through a series of filtration membranes that remove the salt and minerals; multi-stage flash distillation uses heat to evaporate the water leaving the salt behind. Both methods are effective, but use a lot of energy. With few Greek Islands connected to the national power grid, this has been a major obstacle. The solution has come with significant improvements in renewable energy, especially wind and solar, making desalination more cost effective while lessening impact on the environment.

    Greece already has enough desalination capacity to produce approximately 200,000 cubic meters of fresh water a day, and the national government is set to expand the number of small-scale, decentralized desalination plants to provide each island with complete water autonomy. Attention has been drawn to a solar powered desalination unit that uses reverse osmosis to provide a modest five cubic meters a day for a military base on Strongili. The system cost around $162,00 (€150,000) but is expected to pay for itself in as little as four years. Two larger plants on Kastelorizo, costing around $1.1 million (€1 million), are now producing 400 cubic meters of water a day at just one-fifth of the cost of shipping in water. Desalination is bringing fresh hope to many islands.

    But it’s not just the islands that are facing a challenging water future: mainland Greece has significant problems too. Athens is one of the cities that climate change could severely impact within 30 years and it is already experiencing some degree of water shortage. Water demand in the greater Athens region is growing at an excessive and unsustainable rate—around six percent a year. This is driven by a growing urban population and an expansion beyond apartment blocks to suburban homes with thirsty gardens. Unless Greece takes urgent measures to curb water consumption and increase water efficiency, in a few years supply will simply not meet demand.

    The Mediterranean is known as an oasis of sun and sea, but warmer temperatures are putting its freshwater at risk—along with the people, flora, and fauna.
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    Greece and Portugal. As air around the globe heats up due to climate change, it draws more moisture out of the environment, drying out soil and stressing trees—and exacerbating the risk of forest fires.
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    Tens of thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of Lake Koroneia, Greece, in September 2019 after drought dropped water levels in the lake by 70 percent over three years. Dissolved oxygen levels in the remaining water have also fallen to critical levels, causing the fish to suffocate. <sup></sup>
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    In 2017, more than 80 percent of Portugal experienced severe drought. Experts described a summer during which much lower than normal rainfall and very hot temperatures led to high evaporation rates and water scarcities.
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    In Portugal’s Algarve region, extreme drought in 2019 dropped water levels in dams to historic lows. Farmers and rural communities were among the worst affected by drought, and tanker trucks were brought in to supplement dwindling water supplies.
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    The Tagus is the Iberian Peninsula’s longest river, but it is in danger of drying up completely. In 2017, drought and water diversions to other basins reduced the river’s headwater reservoirs to less than 11 percent capacity.
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    Despite Spain’s dry climate, Doñana National Park in Andalusia is one of the most important wetlands and conservation areas in Europe. The marshes are home to wild horses and wildfowl, including flamingos, and serve as a rest stop for millions of migratory birds. But the marshes here are drying up.
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    Summer 2017 saw agriculture suffer as fields dried up. Satellite data showed that although Tuscany regularly experiences drier than normal conditions, the situation in 2017 was particularly intense and persistent.
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    Public drinking fountains often run continuously whether people are drinking from them or not. Usually the unused water is wasted, pouring into storm drains to be carried away rather than recycled.
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    The Mediterranean is known as an oasis of sun and sea, but warmer temperatures are putting its freshwater at risk—along with the people, flora, and fauna.

    A water crisis in the Mediterranean

    The Mediterranean is known as an oasis of sun and sea, but warmer temperatures are putting its freshwater at risk—along with the people, flora, and fauna.
    Photograph by Shutterstock

    While actions need to be taken at a national level and agriculture certainly needs to reduce its over-exploitation of groundwater and wasteful irrigation practices, conserving water is something that everyone can help with. Households account for 14 percent of water consumption in Greece and it is one of the highest water users in the European Union—nearly 40 gallons (177 liters) per person per day. But there are many water saving techniques and technologies that could reduce domestic water use and with it, water stress.

    In the bathroom, some Greek homes already have high-efficiency shower heads but simply taking a shorter shower can save up to 2.5 gallons (12 liters) of water every minute. Turning off faucets when washing hands or brushing teeth is simple, and aerators that mix air with the water flow can deliver a similar pressure for a fraction of the water. And although there has been some adoption of dual flush toilets, at around 2 gallons (9 liters) a flush it’s still worth not flushing every time.

    In the kitchen, a dishwasher filters and recycles to use around 1.7 gallons (8 liters) of water compared to 13 gallons (60 liters) for handwashing in the sink. And not pre-rinsing dishes has been shown to save as much as 5.5 gallons (25 liters) of water while also making the dishwasher detergent more effective. For laundry, a modern, water efficient front-loading washing machine can use as little as 10 gallons (38 liters) per load. Outdoors, collecting rainwater can help irrigate gardens while greywater from sinks and showers can also be used to water plants.

    Greece is currently ranked 26th for water stress in the world and its climate change predictions are bleak: around 30 percent of Greece could become desert over the next few decades. While there are solutions that could help mitigate the worst future water shortages, it is a challenge that everyone in Greece is going to have to help overcome. Building efficient desalination plants on islands such as Nisyros will likely provide residents and tourists with a refreshing glass of clean water, but everyone will need to be more mindful of what it took to get that water into the glass—the more we appreciate water, the less we will waste, and the more likely we are to secure our water future.



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