Greece outlines long-term investment plan to solve water crisis

The Greek government presented a plan to maintain water supply as drought has reduced reserves to worrying levels in certain areas.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy outlined short-term and long-term measures, with a focus on Attica, the peninsula where Athens is located. The area consumes by far the most water in Greece. This year, the level in the nearby Mornos lake in Fokida has dropped to just 152.9 million cubic meters, with its area reduced to 8.3 square kilometers. It marks a 15-year low for the major reservoir and a steep 45% drop in reserves from 2024.

For the long term, the government has launched the Evrytos project for using water from the Evinos river in Aetolia-Acarnania. It will provide Attica with 220 million cubic meters annually, for a cost of EUR 500 million. Necessary infrastructure will become operational by 2029, according to Minister Stavros Papastavrou.

Desalination plants to increase power demand

In the meantime, the government and the Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company (EYDAP) are examining the installation of three desalination plants: in Thisvi, Nea Peramos and Lavrion. Papastavrou said they can together provide 87.5 million cubic meters annually.

However, such units are both expensive and energy hungry. An average desalination plant consumes about 3.5 kWh of electricity for every cubic meter of water it produces. Therefore, the total for all three is about 600 GWh per year.

The new energy demand has not been anticipated in the ten year development plan of Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or ADMIE) nor the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). The 600 GWh is not much compared to a national consumption of 52 TWh, but it would be concentrated in Attica and needs to be taken into account.

Demand is already expected to rise in the region, as a result of electrification and new large-scale construction works in places like Ellinikon.