A Looming Threat for the Greek Isles

 

Saturday––Jeff

“The combination of increased water consumption and prolonged drought is depleting resources in the Cyclades.”

That’s the headline of an in-depth investigative report by environmental reporter Giorgos Lialios, published yesterday in Ekathimerini, Greece’s newspaper of record.  It’s a subject I’ve observed firsthand for over a decade and listened even longer to locals openly worry over.  

What follows is Mr Lialios’ report.  The words are all his, not mine, but I know many of the islands mentioned well (no pun intended), what with my wife and I spending much time on many of them and my setting a half-dozen of my books on those islands.  I take his article as a call to action. We shall see.

Year after year, the pressure increases. On the one hand, there is the explosive growth of tourism, followed by an increase in consumption; on the other, there is drought. The small Aegean islands are preparing for the start of the tourist season with their reservoirs empty, their boreholes pumping brackish water, and an increasing dependence on desalination. The first victim of this difficult situation is what agricultural production is left on the islands, according to the doctrine of “water for the people first and then everything else.”

In 2023, rainfall in the Aegean will be limited for a third consecutive year. “Especially in the Cyclades and southern Crete, which are the areas with the least rainfall, 2023 was a bad year,” explains Kostas Lagouvardos, meteorologist and research director at the National Observatory of Athens. “The last good year for the Aegean was 2019, with a lot of rain in the east and south. Since then, rainfall has been below average. Especially in the Cyclades, where the rainy season lasts only five or six months, it only takes two bad years to create a problem.” In 2023 Andros received 363 millimeters of rain, compared to an average of 506 mm, Tinos received 299 mm, compared to an average of 330 mm, Naxos received 270 mm, compared to an average of 306 mm, and Ios received 195 mm, compared to an average of 285 mm. 

As a result, the Aegean islands are preparing for a difficult year. “The reservoirs on the islands are empty. Many islands will have problems this year. And the first victims will be crop growers and livestock breeders. If it doesn’t rain, there is no vegetation, so the farmer has to buy fodder. Last year the farmers of Naxos bought bales of clover from Bulgaria,” explains Ilias Nokas, head of the Directorate of South Aegean Water at the Decentralized Administration of the Aegean.

“Naxos has two dams. Last year they had 375,000 cubic meters of water, this year they have 30,000 cubic meters of water,” says Dimitris Lianos, mayor of the island. “We’re going to struggle this year. It’s not just tourism that’s important to us, but also agriculture and livestock farming. The first to be affected are the farmers. Potato farmers are already thinking of not planting this year because they will not be able to water their crops. It will be a difficult year for everyone. However, compared to most of the Cyclades islands, Naxos is still in a better position. “The island has water, we have two boreholes at a depth of 171 meters with very good quality water and the level has not dropped. What the island needs is a master plan for water supply. Unfortunately, because of localism, we cannot make more rational use of the water supply – some villages exploit springs and do not allow others to be supplied with water. The town of Naxos now has a desalination plant. We also need irrigation networks and targeted policies for farmers and livestock farmers so that they do not give up; the primary sector is our added value.”

Mykonos

On islands where meeting the needs of tourism is the only priority, empty reservoirs aggravate an already difficult situation. Mykonos is a typical example. “The Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Mykonos has two dams and two desalination plants to supply water to the island,” explains the company’s chairman, Dimitris Lazaridis. “The Marathi dam, with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters, and the Ano Mera dam, with a capacity of 1 million cubic meters, are almost empty due to the continuous drought, and they are not being used.”

Drought is not the only problem. The Aegean islands have seen a surge in tourism in recent years, with a corresponding increase in water consumption. A typical example of the gradual increase in water consumption is the arid island of Santorini. According to data from the Municipal Enterprise for Water Supply and Sewerage (DEYA) of Thera, a decade ago (2013), water consumption on the island reached about 929,000 cubic meters. In 2023, it reached 2.36 million cubic meters of water (an increase of 13.8% compared to the previous year).

The huge increase in consumption is also reflected in the other “flagship” of the Cyclades, Mykonos.

According to data from the Mykonos DEYA, the consumption of water in 2020 (year of quarantine) was 955,505 cubic meters, in 2021 it increased to 1,174,254 cubic meters (+22.9%), in 2022 to 1,513,068 cubic meters (+28.8%), and reached 1,618,069 cubic meters in 2023 (+7%). In other words, if we consider that 2020 was not an ordinary year due to Covid-19, water consumption on Mykonos will increase by 37.8% in two years (from 2021 to 2023). “Moreover, the DEYA data does not reflect the whole picture, as 40% of the island is not covered by the water supply network. The total water consumption of the island is estimated at 2.5-3 million cubic meters per year,” Nokas said. “Like many islands, Mykonos is a place where people build where they want and then meet their needs either with private boreholes – which are overpumped, resulting in poor quality water – or by buying water. However, the increase in consumption also affects the areas that have networks because they are not properly designed. On Mykonos, for example, the network was originally built to serve only Hora, the island capital, and now supports all the outlying areas without any specifications. The island’s biological treatment plant, which was designed for a population equivalent of 50,000 and serves over 100,000 in the summer, has a similar problem. Everything is operating at capacity.”

Challenges

The administrative structure – i.e. the division of responsibilities for water – does not help the situation. Water management on the Greek islands is governed by a complex and deficient system. In the most organized cases, there is a municipal water and sewerage company responsible for the network and water production. In the less organized cases, the water is managed by an agency within the local municipality. The licensing and control of private wells, either for water supply or irrigation, drilled outside the network, is the responsibility of the water directorates of the decentralized administrations, where one or two people are called upon to manage everything. Finally, the regions have water management departments that deal with inspections and complaints.

“When it comes to water consumption, tourism has the last word,” says Nokas. Desalination is not enough. In Ermoupoli, on the island of Syros, when the first plant was built, it had a capacity of 1,200 cubic meters, and today it has reached 5,000 cubic meters, and it is still not enough. Moreover, with the increase in energy costs, the island’s DEYA, which a few years ago had a reserve of 1 million euros, is now 5 million euros in the red, which it cannot pass on to the water bills, since water is already very expensive. According to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy, there are currently 31 desalination plants in operation in the Cyclades and another 15 in the Dodecanese.

Illegal drilling

The problems are not confined to the Cyclades. On Skiathos, which is supplied exclusively by boreholes, the underground water level is falling every year. “The peculiarity of Skiathos is that we have water, the island is self-sufficient. The town of Skiathos is supplied by five municipal wells, while hotels and private individuals on the island have their own wells. In addition, since the water from the central well is no longer potable, we have installed 25 public taps in the town with potable water from another source,” says Ioannis Sarris, director of the Skiathos DEYA.

“The DEYA has no authority to license or control the wells. It has no idea what quantities are being pumped. We have done the best we can – in recent years we have replaced almost the entire internal water supply network and significantly reduced losses. What worries us is that every year the level of the water in the boreholes goes down, and the reserves tend to go down. At the same time, actual consumption is increasing due to tourism. A serious problem is illegal drilling – on Skiathos we have more than 2,000 illegal boreholes. In my opinion, especially on islands where the water comes from an enclosed area, the water should be controlled by the community as a whole and not piecemeal.” According to the Department of Hydroeconomics of the Regional Unit of Magnesia and the Sporades, 238 applications for private wells have been submitted for Skiathos, 11 for Skopelos and five for Alonissos.

“Our island has the peculiarity of being big and small at the same time,” notes Kalymnos Mayor Yannis Mastrokoukos. “Although we are small in area, we have a permanent population of 17,000. This means that we have a significant demand for water throughout the year. It’s not just about tourism, as our own attitude toward water has changed: in terms of using it for cleaning, watering gardens, filling swimming pools… things that were unthinkable two generations ago, when people had learned to live with much less water.” The island is currently supplied mainly by boreholes, and there is a desalination plant for the northern part of the island which is popular with tourists.

He concludes: “The underground reserves are running out and we are now forced to turn to desalination as well. There is already a tender being prepared, funded by the Ministry of the Interior, for the supply of three small desalination plants and another by the Regional Authority of the South Aegean for a large plant for the town of Kalymnos. Of course, desalination is not a panacea. Ideally, if we could expand the use of renewables to meet the demand and make up for grid leakage, it would be more viable as an option.” 

Let’s see what happens.

 

––Jeff

From fire into fire

Stanley – Thursday

Two weeks ago, I reported on the dire state Cape Town was in with respect to water, or lack thereof.  At that time, Day Zero – the day our taps were to be turned off – was around April 16.  That dreaded day has been pushed back now to the middle of May, largely for two reasons.  First, Capetownians have been taking the situation very seriously and have made dramatic cuts in their water usage.  Everyday, people post innovative ways of saving water.I such as directing the outlet hose of the washing machine into a large bucket rather than into a drain.  (By the way, if you decide to do this, ensure the outlet hose is tethered, otherwise it will jump out of the bucket and spew water everywhere!)

Second, a number of farmers in the Grabouw district (about 100 kms from Cape Town) gifted 10 billion litres of water they had in storage in their dam to Cape Town.

And there have been a couple of rain showers, barely enough to wet the ground, but enough for people to harvest.  For example, last Friday I collected 120 litres from the downspout from my roof.  That’s nearly a week’s worth of toilet flushes.

I’ve been looking forward for weeks to getting to the bush.  My favorite place.  Mette and I are planning to spend three weeks there.  I have a deadline at the end of the month for our stand-alone thriller, DEAD OF NIGHT.  Mette has a new Tree app and will soon be teaching me about the flora of the region.

So, getting out of drought-stricken Cape Town to the bush was something to look forward to.

Except . . .

I developed an enervating, hacking cough that is still with me after ten days.  And I broke a tooth the day before heading north.

And . . .

There is a vicious drought in the bush also.  In fact, overall the drought is so severe that the government declared a national emergency.  In January, Ingwelala, where we are staying, had 1.5 mm of rain (25 mm = 1 inch).  The average is 89.4 mm.  There is no grass anywhere, so game is scarce.  However, birds are still plentiful.

Ingwelala grasslands

Wilting leaves

Nothing for the grazers

Waterhole, normally surrounded by grass 

Crowned lapwing looking for something to eat

Devastation

We have a small pond in front of our bungalow, which we filled with water.  All we had to do was sit and watch as we ate our pawpaws, and the game and the birds came to us.

Delicious pawpaw

Here are the photos from Day 1.

Grey go-away bird.  Played a big role as Kweh in THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU

Arrow-marked babbler

Officially, the crested barbet.  I call it the committee bird since it looks as though that's how it was designed.

Red-billed hornbill

Female nyala

This mama warthog had four little ones

Cape glossy starling was delighted with our little pond 

This Natal spur fowl was more interested in our crumbs

As was this red-billed hornbill

One of the few animals we saw - of course, they don't eat grass

"I can see you, but you can't see me!"

Three-banded plover

Impala - or the McDonald's of the bush (from the M on the bum)

How can one not fall in love with the lilac-breasted roller?

PS.  There is good news, of course.  President Zuma has resigned.  And, as one of the Black mechanics here in Ingwelala whom I know well just said: "Now it will rain!" 

If it does, I’ll go outside, dance, and enjoy getting soaked.

Water, water, ev'rywhere

Stanley – Thursday

One of the earliest popular songs I can remember is Tommy Steele’s Water, water, everywhere,” released in 1957.  I did not know at the time that it was taken from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.

The song starts:

So well, it’s water, water, ev’rywhere,”

And not a drop to drink.

You can listen to it here.

The reason this song popped into my mind is that today Cape Town goes to Level 6B water restrictions, despite being surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.  The drought in the area is the worst in over one hundred years, and the dams are nearly depleted.  And since this is a winter-rainfall area, no meaningful rain is expected until June or July at the earliest.  And, of course, we may have a fourth winter with no rain.

Here are some pictures of the largest of the dams: Theewaterskloof Dam.

Day Zero – the day when the city runs out of water – is now April 16.

Of course, there is a massive case of finger pointing as to who is to blame for lack of preparations.  In reality, the municipal government, the provincial government, and the national government are all to blame.  The local and provincial governments blame the national government because it is in charge of water resources.  They say the national government is playing politics with the only province that is run by the opposition Democratic Alliance party.  It is from the national government that the city of Cape Town buys its water.  The national government says the other two entities are to blame for lack of planning.

Meanwhile the city is running out of water.

So, what do Level 6B water restrictions entail?

First, each person is now limited to using 50 litres of tap water every day.  That is approximately 13 gallons.  Here is a graphic showing normal usage.

Mette and I believe we are well under this target already.  We shower in less than a minute with water-on to wet, water-off to soap, and water-on to rinse.  In addition, we stand in a large, blue bucket to collect the water, which we then use to flush the toilet.  We think we use about 8 or 9 litres per shower.  We also only shower when the neighbour’s dog won’t walk through the door due to our body odour.  Not quite!  But certainly not every day unless we play golf or tennis or the outside temperature is in the mid-thirties.

Everywhere you go, you see Cape Town’s toilet mantra:

“If it’s yellow, let it mellow.

If it’s brown flush it down.”

We reckon we normally flush three, and at most four, times a day at present, which means our shower water is insufficient.  We have to use some tap water.  Heaven forbid one or both of us should get the runs.  We’d have to fly and stay with Michael in Johannesburg.

We also save on laundry and dish-washing as we only do that every other day or so.  We don’t have a dog, so that saves a litre!  Daily hygiene takes about two litres instead of three (due to flow-restricting filters on all the taps), and Mette drinks bottled water brought in from elsewhere in the country.  Another two litres saved.  And I've been forced to drink wine and beer.

Few sporting facilities allow any showering – because of smart-asses who think they are saving water by showering elsewhere.  Of course, what they are really doing is trying to save money, as the price of water has gone up from R30 ($2.50) per 6000 litres to R146 ($12).  Over-use is charged at punitive rates.

Level 6B restrictions require agricultural enterprises to use 60% less water than used in 2015.  There is no filling of swimming pools, washing of cars, or watering of plants with a hose.  Any water used for plants comes out of the 50-litre allocation.

When Day Zero arrives, all tap water will be shut off, and 200 collection points will be set up around the city for people to get up to a maximum of 25 litres per day per person.  Needless to say, there are enormous logistical issues with this, as well as for people without transportation or confined to their homes.  I expect tempers to be frayed.

Supermarkets are stocked to the roof with bottled water, and when stocks run out, people queue for hours awaiting shelves to be restocked.  Personally, I think this is a bit extreme since we are still ten weeks away from Day Zero.  Today, I saw a man in a big Jeep go into our local supermarket and buy a trolley-full of water.  I watched as he opened the back of his vehicle to load his water.  The inside was nearly full already.  He had obviously been going from one shop to another to stock up.

So, what is being done?  The city is trying to commission a number of desalination plants.  The problem is that they will be small ones that may produce a million litres a day – not much for a city of 4 million people.  Bigger ones will come on line at some stage.  Water aquifers are also going to be tapped, and running streams that currently empty into the sea will be diverted and used.

It is interesting, since Cape Town was Dutch for so many years, originally there were canals in town, just like Amsterdam.  They were eventually filled in or walled off, but some still have water flowing.  There are also tunnels that are now untapped.  It is estimated that 20 million litres of water flow into the sea everyday through these canals and tunnels.  Apparently, one goes right underneath the Houses of Parliament.

One of the tunnels under the city

Last week, the huge ocean liner Queen Mary 2 arrived in Cape Town, which made me wonder whether the city was going to have to top up its water tanks.  That would be a lot of water since there were probably around 4000 people on board.  It turns out that the ship has its own desalination plants - three in fact - that can produce nearly two million litres a day.  I suggested that the city should hijack the ship and appropriate the plants, but Cunard, the owner, didn't like the idea.

For a moment the other day, I thought the city was going to drill for water in Table Bay, right in front of our apartment.  Two drilling rigs showed up within hours of each other.  They've moved off now, so they are probably here for a service in Cape Town harbor.

If all of this wasn’t bad enough, three other things make it worse.  First, the drought is not restricted to Cape Town.  Large swaths of the country are in similar drought situations.  Second, as always, there are people who don’t pull together – they continue using water and are willing to pay for it.  And third, as you would expect, there are groups of self-appointed vigilantes shaming or reporting others for violating the restrictions.

Watch this space.  It could get nasty.

Some good has come from the crisis.  Most people now realize that they can get by on far less water than they've become used to.  I think that this new behavior will continue when water becomes more available.  

And there are no mosquitos this summer.

There are also unwelcome consequences of the water situation, namely tourism is down, as are property prices.

As far as I know, no city has ever run out of water.  It is a sobering experience to realize how dependent we are on nature to provide some of our essentials.  It is even more sobering to realize that we may not get rain this year, or the next, or the next.  Gasp.