
Athens’ superior h2o source, the Mornos reservoir, is facing a terrible crisis. Water levels person plummeted to a 15-year low, raising concerns astir imaginable shortages for the greater metropolitan area.
According to the Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company (EYDAP), the reservoir’s h2o reserves person dropped to 192.8 cardinal cubic meters, which is 64% beneath the mean level recorded from 2010 to 2024.
A drone footage vividly shows the melodramatic decline. In immoderate areas, the receding shoreline has exposed parts of the colony of Kallio, which was submerged successful 1980 to make the reservoir. This stark ocular serves arsenic a almighty reminder of the severity of the situation.
Related: Greece Considers Desalination Units to Combat Drought successful Athens
Lack of rainfall and snowfall
Kostas Lagouvardos, a Research Director astatine the National Observatory of Athens, describes the concern arsenic the worst successful astatine slightest a decade. The superior crushed for the situation is the prolonged deficiency of precipitation, particularly snowfall, which is important for replenishing reservoirs.
The lake’s existent aboveground country has shrunk to little than 9 quadrate kilometers, a important driblet from its mean size of 14 quadrate kilometers. While the concern is not arsenic dire arsenic the record-low levels of the aboriginal 1990s, Lagouvardos warns that the outlook is “troubling” without important rainfall this autumn and winter.
The National Observatory of Athens has launched the “Mornos Observatory” connected meteo.gr to supply nationalist information and rise consciousness astir the crisis, encouraging h2o conservation efforts. For Athens, the coming months are critical, with the anticipation that capable rainfall and snowfall volition autumn to avert a deeper h2o crisis.
Related: Drought Emergency: Greece Unveils Plan arsenic Attica’s Water Reserves Halved