Climate Extreme drought in Greece alarms experts
The former lake is now a salt desert.
Image: dpa
The next rains in Greece are eagerly awaited.
Image: dpa
The drought is threatening nature and people.
Image: dpa
The olive harvest is becoming increasingly scarce.
Image: dpa
The former lake is now a salt desert.
Image: dpa
The next rains in Greece are eagerly awaited.
Image: dpa
The drought is threatening nature and people.
Image: dpa
The olive harvest is becoming increasingly scarce.
Image: dpa
It is raining less than it has for a long time, while at the same time new temperature records are regularly being set. Because of the drought, even a village that was once flooded is now flooding again.
There is still water, but the news is alarming: the Mornos reservoir, which supplies the Greek metropolis of Athens with fresh water, has shrunk by a good quarter over the past two years. According to the national weather authority in Athens, this is due to a lack of rain, high temperatures and mild winters with little snowfall and therefore less thawing water.
Based on satellite data, the authority's experts have calculated that the area of the Mornos reservoir has shrunk from a good 17 square kilometers to around 12 square kilometers within two years. The sharpest decline has occurred in the past twelve months.
Sunken village emerges
The low water level is so extreme that the village of Kallio, which was once submerged in the water masses of the reservoir, has reappeared, as reported by the TV station Open. On Crete, the level of the Aposelemi dam is dropping, and on the Peloponnese peninsula, the level of the artificial lake Pinios is very low.
The drought is also making life increasingly difficult for people and nature in northern Greece. The drought is clearly evident at the Pikrolimni salt lake, whose mud baths once attracted tourists and which has now almost completely dried up. The surrounding municipality of Kilkis has called on residents to use water sparingly.
State of emergency declared
And it's not just there that there is an emergency: the General Secretariat for Civil Protection has declared a state of emergency for 14 municipalities throughout the country with regard to the water supply, including popular vacation islands such as Crete, Sifnos, Leros and Kefalonia.
The next rain is eagerly awaited. Meteorologists are predicting that it will come in the next few days. They are expecting rainfall in large parts of the country. Alternatively, the Greeks are pinning their hopes on a country saying that a hot, rainy summer will be followed by a cold, snowy winter.