Water supply and sanitation in Greece
Encyclopedia
| Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... : Water and Sanitation |
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| Data | ||
| Access to an improved water source Improved water source According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" water sources:* household connections* public standpipes* boreholes* protected dug wells... |
100% | |
| Access to improved sanitation Improved sanitation According to the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" sanitation:* connection to a public sewer* connection to a septic system* pour-flush latrine... |
100% | |
| Continuity of supply (%) | not available | |
| Average urban water use (l/c/d) | not available | |
| Average water and sanitation tariff (US$/m3) | 1.34 (in Athens and Thessaloniki, 2007) | |
| Share of household metering | not available | |
| Annual investment in WSS | not available | |
| Share of self-financing by utilities | low | |
| Share of tax-financing | high | |
| Share of external financing | not available | |
| Institutions | ||
| Decentralization | Yes | |
| National water and sanitation company | No | |
| Water and sanitation regulator | No | |
| Responsibility for policy setting | Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Interior | |
| Sector law | ||
| Number of urban service providers | 230 | |
| Number of rural service providers | not available | |
Water supply and sanitation in Greece is characterized by a large diversity of settings around the country. While Athens receives its water from a series of reservoirs, some of which are located 200km away, some small islands are supplied with water from tankers. Greeks have suffered from repeated droughts, the most recent one occurring in 2007. The EU supported the construction of numerous wastewater treatment plants since the 1990s in order to achieve EU environmental standards. While the wastewater discharge of the biggest cities is now in compliance with these standards, some smaller towns still lag behind.
In Athens and Thessaloniki, two semi-private utilities – EYDAP and EYATH - are in charge of water supply and sanitation. The companies, which are listed on the Athens stock exchange, post profits despite low tariffs. This is partly due to investment subsidies from the state. Outside the two largest cities 230 different municipal utilities are in charge of water supply and sanitation. As part of the so-called Kallikratis plan for local government reform, smaller municipalities and municipal utilities are to be merged into larger units. The Greek financial crisis of 2010 is making it difficult for Greek utilities to increase tariffs, to enforce payment of arrears and to service their debt. The government plans to sell additional shares of EYDAP and EYATH in order to raise revenues.
Water resources
On average, Greece has quite abundant water resources of 58 billion cubic meter per year (1977-2001), of which the country uses only 12 percent. Of that, 87 percent is used by agriculture, 3 percent by industry and only 10% (or 1.2 percent of total water resources) for municipal water supply. However, the average masks substantial variations between years, seasons and regions. Water resources are especially scarce on the Greek islands, some of which are supplied by tanker ships or have turned to seawater desalination. Droughts are a recurrent phenomenon throughout Greece, including a drought in 1993 that was considered the worst in at least 50 years and another drought in 2007.
Water sources of Athens
Because local water sources are insufficient and to hedge against the risk of drought, the metropolitan area of the capital Athens, where more than a third of the population of Greece lives, is supplied by five different water sources, the most distant one located almost 200km away. The five sources are:- Lake MarathonLake MarathonLake Marathon or the Marathon Reservoir is a water supply reservoir formed from the construction of Marathon Dam at the junction of Charadros and Varnavas Torrents near the town of Marathon, Greece...
close to the city with an operational capacity of 34 million cubic meters and tapped since 1931 through the Boyati tunnel. - Lake Yliki, 90 km northeast of the capital with an operational capacity of 590 million cubic meters and tapped since 1959.
- The MornosMornosThe Mornos is a river that flows in the Fokida and Aitoloakarnania prefectures in Greece. Its source is in the Oiti mountains-Geography:The river begins in the Oiti mountains near the Fthiotida prefecture to the north, it flows through the village of Marmarolithi and into several villages in a...
reservoir 192 km to the west of Athens with an operational capacity of 670 million cubic meters, tapped since 1980 through a system of tunnels and canals. - the Evinos reservoir with an operational capacity of 113 million cubic meters, completed in 2001, and linked via a tunnel with the Mornos Reservoir.
- 105 boreholes in three wellfields that are used only in emergency situations.
Due to the need to pump large quantities of water over long distances and mountains, the water company of Athens is the second-largest electricity customer in Greece.
Thessaloniki is partly supplied by the Aliakmon River.
The Aegean islands are partly supplied by local groundwater sources. However, some smaller islands have insufficient water resources and have to be supplied via tanker ships at a high cost. For example, the islands Milos
Milos
Milos , is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete...
, Kimolos
Kimolos
Kimolos is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, belonging to the islands group of Cyclades, located on the SW tip of them, near the bigger island of Milos. It is considered as a middle class, rural island, not included in the tourist hotspots, thus, ferry connection is sometimes of bad quality...
, Irakleia
Irakleia, Cyclades
Irakleia is an island and a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. Its population was officially 151 inhabitants at the 2001 census, and its land area 17.795 km². It...
, Schoinoussa
Schoinoussa
Schoinoussa is an island and a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies south of the island of Naxos, in the Small Cyclades group, between the island...
, Symi
Symi
Symi also transliterated Syme or Simi is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbor town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities, beaches, and areas of significance in history and mythology...
, Halki, Patmos
Patmos
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. One of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex, it has a population of 2,984 and an area of . The highest point is Profitis Ilias, 269 meters above sea level. The Municipality of Patmos, which includes the offshore islands of Arkoi ,...
and Kastelorizo
Kastelorizo
Kastelorizo, , is a Greek island and municipality located in the southeastern Mediterranean. It lies roughly off the south coast of Turkey, about 570 km southeast of Athens and east of Rhodes, almost halfway between Rhodes and Antalya and to Cyprus...
(Megisti) were partly or entirely supplied via tankers as of 2008. Seawater desalination using renewable energy is an emerging option for these islands. A small wind-powered floating desalination plant has been built as a pilot in 2008 and has been anchored off the shore of Irakleia. Historically the inhabitants of Greek islands have also harvested winter rains
Rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is the accumulating and storing of rainwater for reuse before it reaches the aquifer. It has been used to provide drinking water, water for livestock, water for irrigation, as well as other typical uses. Rainwater collected from the roofs of houses and local institutions can...
from rooftops for use during the summer.
Institutional responsibility
Policy responsibility. Within the Greek government the Ministry of Environment is in charge of water resources management and the Ministry of Interior is in charge of supervising municipalities which are responsible for providing water and sanitation services. The Ministry of Finance plays an important role in providing subsidies for investment.Responsibility for service provision. Water and sanitation services in Greece are provided by 230 utilities. The largest utility is the Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
Water and Sewerage Company (EYDAP SA) serving 4 million inhabitants, followed by the Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
Water and Sewerage Company (EYATH SA) serving about one million inhabitants. Both companies buy raw water from the Greek government that operates the dams and pipelines necessary to store and transfer the raw water. The majority of the shares of EYDAP and EYATH are owned by the government. Private companies and individuals own minorities of 39% in the case of EYDAP (including 10% held by the Agricultural Bank of Greece as the largest single private shareholder) and 10% in the case of EYATH (including 5% held by the French company SUEZ
SUEZ
Suez S.A. was a leading French-based multinational corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, with operations primarily in water, electricity and natural gas supply, and waste management. Suez was result of a 1997 merger between the Compagnie de Suez and Lyonnaise des Eaux, a...
). The shares of both companies are listed on the Athens stock exchange.
4 million Greeks are served by 230 municipality-owned companies called DEYA. The Hellenic Union of Municipal Enterprises of Water Supply and Sewerage (EDEYA), founded in 1989, represents 155 DEYAs. There are about a 1,000 municipalities in Greece, some of them with fewer than 100 inhabitants.
Consolidation of municipal utilities. The so-called Kallikratis plan approved in May 2010 foresees the redrawing of the boundaries of Greek municipalities and giving them more resources and responsibilities. Under the plan, which is to become effective as early as January 2011, the number of DEYAs is expected to be reduced through mergers from 230 to 142. The number of DEYAs had been only 80 as recently as 1997 when the so-called Kapodistria law increased their number. Many of the municipal utilities created at that time were small and have faced financial difficulties due to low tariffs and excessive hiring. A Greek Ministry of Finance document of 2010 discusses the possibility of creating a holding company to be called Hellenic Waters S.A. for the entire country including EYATH, EYDAP and the DEYAs.
Financial aspects and impact of the 2010 Greek financial crisis
As a result of the Greek financial crisis, the government wants to reduce its shareholding in EYDAP and EYATH to 51%, as announced by the Ministry of Finance in June 2010 as part of a broader Hellenic Privatization Program. Many utilities are having difficulties paying back their loans, given the reduction of subsidies and political difficulties concerning tariff increases during an economic crisis. Also, cash revenues may decline due to difficulties in collecting bills from customers whose incomes have been reduced through public sector wage cuts.Before the crisis, the two largest water and sanitation utilities, EYDAP and EYATH, have posted profits since they were partly privatized in 2000. In 2009 EYDAP posted an after-tax profit of Euro 6 million and EYATH, though much smaller, posted an after-tax profit of Euro 14 million. Many of the smaller municipally-owned utilities are financially less viable. The government provides significant investment subsidies. For example, the law that established EYDAP committed the state to subsidize 60% of its capital expenditure either through EU funds or Greek funds. Subsidies for the DEYAs were reduced by 37% to Euro 23 million in 2010.
In 2007 tariffs, which are the same for EYDAP and EYATH, were the equivalent of US$ 0.81/m3 for water and US$ 0.53/m3 for wastewater. This water tariff is 3 to 5 times lower than, for example, in German cities, and the wastewater tariff was 4 to 7 times lower. Most water tariffs in smaller towns are lower than in Athens and Thessaloniki.
Environmental aspects
Greece lags behind in the implementation of the European Union’s Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive of 1991, which required all municipal wastewaters to be treated by 2005. The biggest cities are in compliance with the directive. Athens and Thessaloniki, which discharge into sensitive areas, have wastewater treatment plants with nitrogen removal. The wastewater treatment plant of Athens, located on the island of PsyttaleiaPsyttaleia
Psyttaleia is an uninhabited island in the Saronic Gulf a few miles off the coast of Piraeus, Greece. It covers an area of 0.375 square kilometers. The island currently houses the largest sewage treatment plant in Europe, with a projected daily maximum drying capacity of 750 tons of sewage...
, was put into service in 1994, followed by a sludge treatment plant that became operational in 2007. Iraklion on the island of Crete and Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
are situated in areas not declared sensitive and provide full secondary treatment followed by nitrogen removal. However, there are issues with insufficient wasteater treatment in some smaller towns.
Axios
"Axios!" is an acclamation that is made by the faithful at the ordination of bishops, priests and deacons in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches...
river and Vozvozis river. The European Commission said that 16 additional water bodies should have been identified as sensitive. Among those were the lower part of the Saronic Gulf
Saronic Gulf
The Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Aegina in Greece forms part of the Aegean Sea and defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Corinth. It is the eastern terminus of the Corinth Canal, which cuts across the isthmus.-Geography:The gulf includes the islands of; Aegina, Salamis, and Poros along with...
and the Gulf of Thessaloniki. In 2002 the Greek authorities designated the Thessaloniki Gulf and the lower part of the Saronic Gulf as sensitive. The latter receives Athen’s wastewater. According to the Greek authorities 17 agglomerations discharge into these sensitive areas. According to the European Commission, in 2002 (no more recent information from the EC is available) the towns of Elefsina Aspropyrgos
Aspropyrgos
Aspropyrgos is a suburb of Athens, and a municipality in the West Attica regional unit, Attica, Greece. It is located 20 km NW of the city center of Athens in the Thriasian plain...
, Grevena
Grevena
Grevena is a town and municipality in Greece, capital of the Grevena peripheral unit. The town's current population is 10,447 citizens; it lies about 400 km from Athens and about 180 km from Thessaloniki. The municipality's population is 30,564...
, Kilkis
Kilkis
Kilkis is an industrial city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2001 there were 17,430 people living in the city proper, 24,812 people living in the municipal unit, and 56,336 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the regional unit of Kilkis.-Name:Kilkis is located in a...
and Theva discharged their wastewater in sensitive areas without any treatment. Other towns such as Arta
Arta, Greece
Arta is a city with a rich history in northwestern Greece, capital of the peripheral unit of Arta, which is part of Epirus region. The city was known in ancient times as Ambracia . Arta is famous for its old bridge located over the Arachthos River, situated west of downtown...
and Serres
Serres
Serres is a city in Greece, seat of the Serres prefecture.Serres may also refer to:Places:* Serres, Germany, a part of Wiernsheim in Baden-WürttembergIn France:* Serres, Aude in the Aude département...
had wastewater treatment plants without phosphorus removal. The latter is required to prevent eutrophication
Eutrophication
Eutrophication or more precisely hypertrophication, is the movement of a body of water′s trophic status in the direction of increasing plant biomass, by the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system...
of sensitive water bodies. Furthermore, some existing wastewater treatment plants do not function properly. In 2002 only 2 of the wastewater treatment plants discharging in sensitive areas achieved the treatment efficiency required by the EU Directive. Concerning cities discharging into areas that were not declared as sensitive, as of 2002, Greece achieved a low compliance rate: It provided secondary treatment for less than 50 % of the concerned waste water load.