Drought nightmare: Mornos lake is emptying of water - Reserves down 68% in two years

The government waited for the celebration of 100 years of EYDAP to mobilize regarding the drought afflicting the country and Attica, while EYDAP's reservoirs are emptying, revealing the magnitude of the problem and showing their "innards."

Water reserves fell by 58% in two years.

The total water reserves on October 30, 2023, reached $901,435,000$ cubic meters of water ($\text{m}^3$). Yesterday, the corresponding reserves were $376,477,000$ cubic meters of water. In two years, water reserves decreased by $528,958,000$ cubic meters, a drop of 58%, yet the government was not mobilized.

In the main reservoir, Lake Mornos, water reserves decreased by 68.8% within two years. They fell to $152,207,000$ cubic meters of water from $489,152,000$ on October 30, 2023. The next reservoir is Yliki. Reserves dropped by 58%, to $155,672,000$ from $348,232,000$.

The reservoirs of Marathon and Evinos have small capacities, with reserves fluctuating below $50$ million cubic meters.

The government exercised... patience for two years for yesterday's spectacle, presenting an investment program worth €2.5 billion, which will solve Attica's drought problem for the next 30 years. However, the speed of depletion could lead to measures such as the rationing of water supply.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis:

"The data presented by the Minister and the CEO of EYDAP is absolutely undeniable. Attica faces a potentially very large water supply problem if we do not take necessary and drastic measures. You might say, the next year could be good. It might snow. It might rain. The reservoirs might be refilled by the natural cycle of hydrological data.

Ladies and gentlemen, hope is not a strategy. This might not happen. And we must be ready at all times for the worst-case scenario."

The first anti-drought projects

The first fast track tender is imminent, to address the drought problem facing Attica. The value of the project is estimated at €535 million. The tender is expected to commence in the summer of 2026 under Article 55, which accelerates the procedure, with the main goal of completing the project in the first half of 2029. Water will come from Eyrytos, through a small diversion of the Krikeliotis and Karpenisiotis rivers.

Furthermore, interventions will be made in Yliki with boreholes for water recovery. EYDAP is proceeding, as PLAN B, with desalination projects in Thisvi, Nea Peramos, and Lavrio, aiming to collect 35 million cubic meters of water per year.

Papastavrou: The great project of our generation is Eyrytos

The Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, stated, among other things: "The great project of our generation is Eyrytos: the partial diversion of Krikeliotis and Karpenisiotis to Evinos. This project symbolizes good, unimpeded flow and will secure Attica for the next 30 years. The completion of the 'Eyrytos' Project is estimated to take place in the first half of 2029 — approximately 4 years from now — and 100 years after the completion of the Marathon dam. And it is the project of the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which is added to this relay of emblematic projects of the last 100 years."

Key projects since 1926

The long-term reservoir reserves, over the last 40 years, have experienced cycles of increase and recession. Today we are at one of the lowest points of water reserves, a fact proven by hydrological data. In our history, over the last 100 years, in every generation, an initiative is undertaken to develop a major, visionary project, in order to secure the water supply in Attica.

From 1926 and the start of construction work on the Marathon dam, the "largest hydraulic project in the Balkans," which was completed in 1929 under Eleftherios Venizelos…

Until the start of exploitation of Lake Yliki under Konstantinos Karamanlis in 1956, which due to its low elevation utilizes pumping stations for water extraction. And from the inauguration of the construction of the artificial Lake Mornos in 1979… Until the study under Konstantinos Mitsotakis in 1990, which led to the major Evinos project.

Nikos Theodoropoulos

ntheo@bankingnews.gr

www.bankingnews.gr