Scientists are worried and raise alarms as the nightmare of water scarcity is more intense than ever.
Water reserves in the Morno lake, which supplies Athens, are dangerously declining, to the point where a submerged village is resurfacing. In fact, the level of Morno has dropped to such an extent, due to lack of rain, that the submerged village of Kallio has been revealed again.
Speaking to SKAI, Professor Emeritus of NTUA Kimon Chatzimbiros emphasized that “if the level drops significantly, it will be impossible to pump water. This means that Athenians will have to move.”
The images taken on August 18 by mechanical engineer Georgios Chalkos and presented by SKAI are disheartening. “This is one of the times it has dropped very low. It has dropped before, but now it has dropped very low, the level has gone very low, and the height difference from the overflow is very large,” Mr. Chalkos stated.
Professor Kimon Chatzimbros noted that the Morno lake was constructed specifically to supply Athens. “At the beginning of the 1990s, we had a major drought. Fortunately, the work on Evinos had begun, the Evinos lake which supplies the Morno lake to subsequently bring water to Athens, and we believed then that the water supply problem for Athens had been definitively solved because the available water quantities were very large at that time,” Mr. Chatzimbros added.
“What needs to be done immediately is to conserve water in the city and everywhere, so that the little reserves we have can last until this exceptional phenomenon passes. I remember in the past washing cars was prohibited, washing balconies where water is not absolutely necessary and we can do without it for a while so that we have enough to drink,” the professor emphasized.
Scientists are worried and raise alarms as the nightmare of water scarcity is more intense than ever. Over the past two years, the lack of rain has significantly limited the water reserves of the reservoirs supplying Athens. EYDAP is already activating supplementary sources, as planned in its schedule.