Seven Greek islands in the Aegean Sea have declared drought emergencies this year to preserve water as climate change makes summers hotter and rainfall more erratic.
Now, authorities are wondering if it will rain next year to sustain the thousands of tourists who strain the supply of water just when locals need it most.
The butterfly-shaped island of Astypalaia, which relies on bottled water for drinking, lies east of the mainland and did not benefit from rain in northern and western parts of Greece that gave the country its wettest winter since 2022.
For Astypalaia in the southeastern Aegean, it was the second driest season since 2020, according to data by local authorities, creating dilemmas for officials.
“If we collected all the water dropped throughout the year in a bucket or in a washbowl, it would be 2.5 cm deep,” said mayor Nikos Komineas, standing near a man-made lake surrounded by dry hills with sparse low scrub, the island’s sole water reservoir built in the mid-1990s.
FARMERS GO BACK TO RELYING ON WELLS
Authorities cut off farmer Evdokia Palatianou from a man-made lake to save water in April. The vegetables she grows in her orchard withered as she was forced to rely on brackish water pumped from her well.
“Unless it rains, I won’t plant anything,” said Palatianou, 71, standing next to a dead tree once full of mandarins on the coastal village of Livadi, the island’s main fertile region.
The lake supplying water for household use and irrigation in Livadi and to the main tourist town of Chora, the island’s capital, now contains some 150,000 cubic metres, a sixth of its storage capacity.
With daily consumption at about 900 cubic metres in the summer, it would last around five and a half months.
Authorities declared a water emergency in May to fast-track a temporary desalination plant with a daily output of 600 cubic metres for Chora, and blocked irrigation for farmers in Livadi to safeguard the lake’s reserves until autumn, Komineas said.
“We did it with a heavy heart, but anyway, thankfully there’s this alternative for them,” he said, adding that if rain replenishes the Livadi reservoir, they will reconnect the farmers.
CONSUMPTION SOARS DURING PEAK SUMMER MONTHS
A map compiled by the Copernicus European Drought Observatory marked Astypalaia in orange in June, an early sign of emerging drought.
At the seaside village of Analipsi on the island’s east, sheep and goat farmers carry in water to fill up tanks or use low-quality water from boreholes.
A desalination plant that supplies tap water there was unable to cover a population that swells to 7,000 from 1,400 in midsummer, so a second, temporary facility was set up in Chora pending construction of a permanent one planned for the end of the year.
Dozens of energy-intensive desalination plants are installed on Greek islands. Κomineas said the temporary plant was a fallback for drought, while admitting it was costly.
“A major worry for me was what will happen if there is no rain once again this year,” he said.
HOTELS CONSIDER WATER-SAVING MEASURES
Some hoteliers on Astypalaia have already taken action to save water. Carolina Alkalai, 42, who operates a hotel on a hillside in Chora, with views of the castle and the Aegean Sea, offers a €5 voucher to guests who skip the daily cleaning service.
“Clients have embraced it,” she said. She envisioned a second hotel on the island that would incorporate a cistern able to retain rainwater instead of a pool or a jacuzzi.
Environment Minister Stavros Papastavrou has approved €15 million ($17 million) for desalination, grid upgrades and water tanks on nine of Greece’s more than 200 inhabited islands, including 1.5 million euros for Astypalaia. In June, he briefed other environment ministers in Luxembourg on water resilience.
“For Greece, water isn’t theoretical- it’s about security, economic growth and the protection of local communities,” he said.
The Athens-based National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos” says drought could get worse by 2049 as global temperatures rise, exacerbating water scarcity on the vulnerable islands.
(Additional reporting by Louisa Gouliamaki and Stamos Prousalis)
