At the beginning of September of 2023, almost before the wildfires which struck many parts of Greece – including Thessaly – had been extinguished, Storm Daniel inflicted major flooding on the plains of Karditsa and Trikala, causing widespread damage to infrastructure, livestock and crops. Up to 800 mm of rain – more than a year’s worth – fell in 24 hours, inundating the flat terrain and rendering whole villages uninhabitable.
The floods came three years after the similar storm Ianos had devastated the same area, and questions were asked as to why effective anti-flood measures had not been carried out in the intervening three years. According to Ekathimerini: “In total, an estimated €1 billion has reportedly been allocated for post-Ianos projects, of which around €400 million was for flood protection. However, there are many complaints that any projects that have been carried out have been fragmented, and carried out haphazardly.”
The tendency of Greek governments to respond reactively to natural disasters and their poor record in instituting preventive measures have been frequently noted, and one of the reasons is the fragmentation and lack of clear definition of responsibilities. Effective action becomes difficult when officials claim that a problem is not their responsibility rather than trying to find a cooperative solution.
The newly elected Mitsotakis government was brutally confronted with this reality by the events of last September, and one of its responses has been to announce the creation of a unified water management plan which will coordinate the supply of domestic and agricultural water supplies, as well as drainage and flood protection, for each region. While that for Thessaly has been given priority, Crete is also considered a special case because of its particular topography.
Crete to be given priority after Thessaly
On Saturday 18th November 2023, a working meeting took place in Heraklion on the subject of “Water management in Crete – land improvement works – anti-flood measures and adjustment to the new facts”. Among those present were the minister for Rural Development and Food Lefteris Avgenakis and the Regional Governor for Crete Stavros Arnautakis. The meeting was a first step in an initiative which aims to respond to the adverse effects of drought and the visible effects of climate change on irrigation, which are affecting the rural economy, agricultural practices and prosperity in general.
“This is the first joint working meeting, aimed at getting things under way as fast as possible, so as to avoid Crete suffering the same fate as Thessaly,” Mr Avgenakis said. Crete has a particular topography, but its peculiarities are well known, he pointed out, and the aim is to bring together existing knowledge with scientists, all the Regional services and local bodies such as the Crete Development Organisation, so as to finally create a unified body for water management on the island.
“The management of Crete’s water, land improvement works and flood protection for the island are priorities,” Mr Avgenakis said, adding that “climate change and its consequences are already here”. There are supplies of water, he said, but at the same time water is being lost. “While water is being wasted, at the same time we have many incidences of drought, brackish water appearing in boreholes and more generally pictures such as we have seen in Messara, in Sitia and Ierapetra, flood phenomena such as those in Chania, Rethymnon and Agia Pelagia, Vianno and Sitia, which need to be countered by all possible means,” the minister said. “We need to take preventive action instead of running after the fact.”
The Regional Governor Stavros Arnautakis mentioned the need for cooperation between the responsible ministers, the Regional Authority and the municipalities, since there will be many different areas of responsibility. He recalled that a plan for the unified management of Crete’s water resources had been put forward by the Crete Development Organisation in 2016.
Taking part in the meeting were officials from the ministry of Rural Development and Food and the Cretan Regional Authority, representatives of the Crete Development Organisation and the municipalities, officials from the ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the ministry of the Environment and Energy, as well as representatives from the Dutch firm HVA International, which has expertise in the management of complex irrigation works and is preparing a master plan for the recovery of Thessaly. Mr Avgenakis said that the latter would be ready in a few weeks, while the company and its scientists would also be working on the plan for Crete.
Contribution of the Crete Development Organisation
At the meeting, the CEO of the Crete Development Organisation (OAK), Aris Papadogiannis, referred to the “Plan for the Management of Water-related Works in Crete” which the organisation had completed in 2022, saying that the report’s data and conclusions would be made available to those compiling the new master plan. He also referred to the cooperation which is under way between the Regional Authority and the OAK on the vexed subject of dam security on the island.
“Climate change and the multi-level changes which it is bringing to Crete in terms of drinking water supply, irrigation and flood-protection, along with the model of touristic development which prevails on the island, urgently impose a unified management system aimed at ensuring sufficient and good-quality supplies of drinking and irrigation water against cost-effective criteria, as well as targeted interventions for increasing water sufficiency and our anti-flood infrastructure,” he said.
(Haniotika Nea, 20/11/23)
Recent developments
Pursuing the issue of water management, on 16th January, the minister of Rural Development and Food Lefteris Avgenakis, held a meeting in Heraklion with the mayors of Minoa Pediada Vasilis Kegeroglou and Malevizi Menelaos Bokeas, along with the vice-president of ELGO-DIMITRA Nektarios Vidakis and Miltos Gouzouris, CEO of HVA International.
The low amounts of rainfall seen throughout Crete in the past few years and the consequent threat of drought, which is already visible especially in the agriculturally productive eastern part of the island, because of climate change, has led the ministry of Rural Development and Food to institute a plan of water resources management, on the model of that in Thessaly, the minister said. After the imminent creation of the Board in Thessaly, “We have asked the Dutch company HVA to proceed with drawing up a master plan for water resource management [here], since Crete has five different catchment areas and a unique topography.” He also noted that the ministry is overseeing the completion of basic studies for significant land improvement works in the wider area including, for example the joint plans with municipalities to separate the common network for irrigation and drinking water.
(ERT News)
The wider perspective
The minister has also been busy with the aftermath of the floods in Thessaly. In a recent four-day tour he held some 40 meetings with local agricultural and local government representatives in the area, where a total of €150 million in compensation has so far been paid out, from a budgeted total of €260 million. The total restoration costs for the area are expected to exceed €3 billion.
In an interview with journalist Aris Portosalte on Skai 100.3 radio on 15th January, Mr Avgenakis said that what happened in Thessaly could happen, as a result of the climate crisis, in any part of Europe, and the EU needs to strengthen existing mechanisms and create new ones which will be able to help citizens in the member states which are affected. For this reason, he announced, on 24th January in Brussels, there will be a meeting of the nine countries of the southern EU – the EUMED-9, where their Agriculture and Fishing ministers will meet for the first time to coordinate actions for countering the climate crisis, which the Mediterranean countries are experiencing more intensely than elsewhere.
(Ministry press release 15/01/24).