An olive grove is watered via irrigation pipes from a container in the village of Nea Silata in northern Greece. | Photo credit: AP
Six weeks before harvest, farmer Dimitris Papadakis’ olive grove in northern Greece runs out of water, so he has started a new morning routine.
Together with his teenage son, he uses a truck to bring water from nearby areas. Using a small generator, he hooks the vehicle up to irrigation lines to save what’s left of his thirsty harvest.
“Our boreholes have almost dried up… We now depend on tankers to irrigate our fields,” said Mr Papadakis, head of an agricultural cooperative in a village in Halkidiki, a three-fingered peninsula in northern Greece that is popular with tourists.
This summer, southern Europe was hit by successive heat waves, due to below-average rainfall for up to three years. Drought spots on the region’s map are extensive. In Greece, the consequences include water shortages, dried up lakes and even the death of wild horses. “We have seen a 30 to 40% reduction in water supply after three consecutive winters with almost no rainfall,” said Mayor Anastasia Halkia.
Groundwater beneath Mr Papadakis’ 270 olive trees is diminishing and becoming brackish, while drought is expected to halve his expected yield.
The water crisis has been exacerbated by a booming tourist season. In Kassandra, the westernmost finger of the peninsula, the population grows from 17,000 year-round to 6,50,000 in summer, putting unsustainable pressure on water resources.
