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Last year was destructive for John’s olives. According to him, the olives were so small that they were directed to the oil market, which is much less profitable. This year seems a little better. On the day of filming, there are two months that have not fallen here a single drop of rain.
“From the climate crisis, this olive variety faces many serious problems. This is due to a water deficiency, as well as with high winter temperatures that do not provide trees in the cold hours that they need to bear fruit. As a result, many trees do not have olives, ”John explains.
The air temperature today is 37ºC. Soil moisture reaches 50%. John was forced to invest in an expensive irrigation system, which, as he himself admits, also changes the sensitive balance of underground aquifers.
At 20 kilometers, another farmer is faced with the same problem … in another harvest. Dimitris is a winger of 630 pistachios. The years of the passage of the packs and authorities continue to close their eyes, he claims.
“Nothing was done when training farmers in the correct management of water resources. We do not even have accurate agricultural systems. Everyone does what he can, ”he says. “The state had to do something already to avoid the problems we encountered. Over the past 15 years, the danger bell called. We, the Greeks, are always learning to live with hope, and water is hope, ”concludes Dimitris.
In some areas, up to 90% of water resources with infrastructure consuming agriculture and livestock, which is often outdated and ineffective. Other areas, such as industry or tourism, consume equally large quantities.
Under this pressure, the Greece government has just made extraordinary investments and the complete reorganization of various water management organizations. The strategy for water resistance, recently published by the European Commission, additionally supports the modernization of infrastructure through state and private financing and digital decisions.
But this will be enough?
We ask a question of the hope of Kolokita, the head of one of the UNESCO centers for integrated and multi -teaching water resources. She is also a professor at the Department of Civil Construction at the University of Thessaloniki Aristotle.
“The point is not that we do not have water resources. It means that we do not use them accordingly. We must do more because we live in new regularity. The new regularity lies in the fact that from the climate change, we often experience floods and droughts. Therefore, we must first update our data, ”he says.
Is the EU directive on the waters of 2000 and subsequent Greek legislation to ensure the right solutions?
“We have achieved great success. Of course, we still have shortcomings in management. And in Greece, ”says Nadezhda Kolokita. “The solution to the problem is a combination of hydraulic engineering work with some soft structural measures, such as the preservation of water or information campaigns on water and leakage control.”
The strategy of the European Commission for Water Sustainability is aimed at reducing consumption and improving the rational use of water in the EU by 10% by 2030.