Nine municipalities in Crete apply for a state of emergency and 30 other municipalities in Greece find themselves in the same predicament.

Over the Past 18 Months, 39 Municipalities, Including 9 in Crete, Have Requested Emergency Status

In the last year and a half, 39 local authorities across Greece have officially asked to be declared under a state of emergency due to severe water shortages.

This reflects growing concerns about water scarcity affecting multiple regions.

Among these, 9 municipalities are on the island of Crete.

The rest are scattered throughout the country, which really shows how widespread the limited water supply problem has become.

Since last September, 20 municipalities have made formal requests for emergency recognition.

According to the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, the municipalities that have requested the declaration of a state of emergency in the last 1.5 years are the following:

Poros, Chios, Mytilini, West, Aktio-Vonitsa, Sami, Central Corfu and Diapontia, Paxos, South Corfu, North Corfu, Nea Propontida, Polygyros, Ierapetra, Platania Chania, Kissamos Chania, Minoa Pediada of Heraklion, Phaistos, Andros, Ermionida, Velos-Vocha Corinth, Aliartos-Thespia, Orchomenos, Myki Xanthi, Alexandroupolis, Soufli, Spetses, Sithonia, Kassandra, Kantanou-Selino Chania, Gortyna Heraklion, Archanes-Asterousia Heraklion, Mylopotamos Rethymno, Serifos, Leros, Sifnos, Loutraki-Perachora-Agioi Theodoroi, Evrota, Istiaiaia-Edipsos, Distomos-Arachova-Antikyra.

It’s a persistent headache—making sure there’s enough water to go around is turning into a real challenge.

The declaration of a state of emergency lets authorities roll out urgent measures like water restrictions, targeted support for vulnerable groups, and emergency funding to tackle shortages.

The table below sums up the main facts about these municipalities:

The recognition of these emergencies helps national and regional governments coordinate their responses.

It also puts a spotlight on how climate-related challenges are hitting freshwater resources harder every year.

Efforts to support municipalities in crisis include technical help, financial aid, and policy moves to improve water availability and efficiency.

Struggling to Secure Funding in Lesbos

Lesbos is facing a worsening water shortage crisis, and local authorities seem caught off guard despite dealing with these issues for years.

Several communities on the island now deal with severe water scarcity, and water interruptions are just part of daily life. In some spots, water supply is only available for a few hours, while in others, the water turns muddy during heatwaves.

Local leaders say the main water supply depends on underground wells, but the long drought has drained them, making things worse in towns like Polichnitos, Kalloni, Eresos, Petra, and Vasilika.

During the hottest summer days, temperatures shoot past 40°C, and residents have reported brown, murky water from the tap.

To deal with this, municipal authorities declared a state of emergency, letting them skip red tape and act fast on both small and big fixes.

These emergency measures aim to kickstart construction projects and get infrastructure upgrades moving.

Some financial support has arrived, though it’s nowhere near enough.

Recently, a government body for island affairs granted half a million euros for immediate actions, like drilling new wells and upgrading old ones to boost supply.

Extra resources from European funds for the Northern Aegean are going into modernising wastewater treatment plants and replacing old water pipes in Mytilene.

These projects matter—a lot—because they help manage water better and cut down on losses in the city’s supply network.

A big dam project near Tsiknias has also gotten the green light and is waiting to start.

The national Ministry of Infrastructure is footing the bill, and with contracts signed, construction should begin soon.

Key funding actions underway in Lesbos:

Despite these projects, officials warn that solving the water shortage will need steady investment and follow-through.

It’s not just about getting money—managing resources well under climate stress and rising demand is a real test.

Lawn Watering Practices in Arachova

Arachova, with about 9,000 residents, has been hit hard by water shortages lately.

Even though officials keep urging people to save water, you’ll still see heavy lawn watering—especially around upscale homes in Livadi. The mayor notes water use spikes there, and it’s not subtle.

In winter, people use roughly 300 cubic metres of water per day just for lawns.

That number can more than double in the summer, sometimes hitting 700 cubic metres daily. This puts extra pressure on an already limited supply.

All this excess watering happens while snowfall, the main water source, has been way below average for three years straight.

With less snow melting, water reserves are low, and the municipality has had to declare an emergency.

The water shortage breaks down like this:

To get a handle on the crisis, the municipality is pushing for better water security.

The big move is building a dam in Livadi, backed by local funding and donations. At the same time, they’re working to activate four new wells for more reliable supply.

Residents are being told to cut back on lawn watering and generally use water more carefully, especially when it’s dry.

It’s a tough situation that really shows why sustainable water management matters, especially as climate shifts and demand keeps rising.

Areas Most Affected by Water Scarcity

Several regions in Greece are struggling with water scarcity, especially as underground water resources keep shrinking.

In the last five years, groundwater recharge has dropped sharply in many areas.

Western Greece and the Peloponnese have seen their underground water levels fall a lot.

This ongoing drop is starting to hit agriculture, local communities, and ecosystems that rely on these reserves.

Crete is also sliding into a situation where underground water supplies are much lower than before.

It’s a worrying trend, and the island’s water system is feeling the pinch, especially with droughts getting more frequent.

In northern parts like Macedonia and Thrace, water resources are stretched thin, too.

These regions, along with the Aegean Islands, just aren’t getting enough groundwater recharge, which hurts both cities and farms.

Here’s a table to make it clearer which regions are seeing the most groundwater decline:

Other factors, like climate change and long dry spells, make things worse.

Less snowfall lately means less natural recharge during the spring, which doesn’t help.

Communities in these spots are facing a bunch of problems:

• Limited water for homes and farms
• Higher costs for getting and treating water
• Extra stress on ecosystems that need groundwater

Managing water use, fixing infrastructure, and protecting what’s left are all crucial right now.

Without some real action, scarcity could get even worse and hit more people. The problem is most urgent in places that rely almost entirely on underground water for daily life. If these areas don’t get attention, long-term damage and ongoing shortages are pretty much guaranteed.

The Path Leading to the Current Water Crisis

The water shortage in Greece didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Years of poor management and a lack of coordination between the folks in charge of water resources got us here.

Geological surveys, environmental institutes, and water authorities have all been doing their own thing. No one really managed to pull them together, so their efforts to monitor and protect water supplies fell short.

Overuse of groundwater is a huge part of the problem. In places like the Peloponnese and Halkidiki, people have drilled so many wells that groundwater levels have dropped way too fast.

These aquifers just can’t refill quickly enough. We’re talking about long-term damage to underground reserves that might take generations to fix—if it’s even possible.

Infrastructure isn’t keeping up either. Greece needs more dams and reservoirs, but a lot of these projects either never got finished or never even got off the ground.

Some dam projects have dragged on for decades. There’s rarely a clear timeline, so nothing really gets done, and the country gets left exposed during dry spells.

Another thing: Greece barely uses treated wastewater or other unconventional water sources. Desalination, cleaning up brackish water, and biological treatment could help, but they’re just not part of the mainstream approach.

That means we keep leaning on the same limited natural sources. It’s a missed opportunity, honestly.

Up-to-date data is basically nonexistent. The national monitoring network hasn’t published anything new since 2020.

Without fresh info, how can anyone plan or react to new water threats? It’s like flying blind.

Climate change is just making things messier. Rainfall patterns have shifted, and we’re getting these wild, heavy downpours that dump a ton of water all at once.

Most of that water doesn’t even soak in. It just rushes straight to the sea, leaving aquifers and reservoirs high and dry.

Take Halkidiki, for example. One weekend saw 300 millimetres of rain—normally that would take months. But because it all came at once, barely any of it was useful.

The combination of intense storms and long dry spells means there’s just less usable water overall. It’s a tough cycle to break.

Some of the key factors driving the water crisis in Greece include:

• Decades of poor resource management
• Fragmented institutional roles and poor coordination
• Over-extraction of groundwater through excessive drilling
• Incomplete or missing water storage infrastructure
• Underuse of treated wastewater, brackish water, and desalination
• Lack of updated monitoring data since 2020
• Changing rainfall patterns leading to inefficient water absorption

Investment in infrastructure really needs to take center stage. Projects that started ages ago should finally get finished, with actual deadlines for once.

Digging more boreholes isn’t going to save us. It’ll just make the groundwater situation worse.

Tourism is another headache. Some regions get overwhelmed by visitors, and water use shoots up like crazy.

New tourist facilities should have to install systems to collect and use treated or brackish water for things like irrigation and pools. Why waste precious freshwater on stuff like that?

Here’s a table that lays out the main issues and some possible ways forward:

Source: Creta24

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