STORY: This city in the Arigolda region of southern Greece has a water problem.
Its old pipes underground are leaking – and losing more than half the water that’s pumped through them.
And when reservoir levels are low in the summer – residents are told not to drink the contaminated water pumped from backup sources.
Resident Lydia Sarakinioti says you can smell the difference in the water.
“The batteries and anything aluminum are rapidly corrupted, and also anything that has to do with personal hygiene. The same for cooking, even pasta, I don’t boil it with the tap water, I avoid it. In the summer I even use bottled water to brush my teeth.”
But the issue goes beyond the region.
The European Union says the climate change-driven water crisis affects 38% of its population.
In a campaign launched this month, it has given member countries until next year to assess leakage levels before a legal threshold is imposed.
The program comes as countries across southern Europe experience more erratic rainfall and hotter temperatures due to climate change.
In Greece, a crippling 2009 to 2018 debt crisis has led to years of underinvestment.
Petros Varelidis is the environment ministry’s secretary general for water resources.
“The problem is that in the country the leakages are on average around 40%, but there are many municipal drinking water providers that have around 60% leakages. The leakages are a part, a wider part is the non-revenue water, which could be even more, as there is water theft.”
The Greek government said it’s spent more than 1.5 billion euros on drinking water infrastructure since 2019.
But residents in Argolida, which produces roughly a third of Greece’s oranges, say more is needed.
Farmer George Mavras says when aquifer levels drop, seawater flows into the mainland.
This impacts the trees and fruit, and he says this year the region saw a 30% drop in production.
In November, the prime minister promised to make fixes to Argolida’s water problems, including extending the irrigation network and providing a desalination unit.
But until then, residents are relying on plastic bottled water, which creates its own environmental problems.
“During the summer there is not a single person who is not drinking bottled water. This is why these recycling stations may recycle as many as 25,000-30,000 bottles per day in the summer,” says resident Babis Antoniadis.
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Publish date : 2025-02-20 14:25:00
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