A Thessaloniki prosecutor has ordered a wide-ranging investigation into the reasons why the aging main water pipe supplying the city burst last Tuesday, leaving thousands of people without water for days.

 

 The regional governor of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said on Monday that the situation was a “disgrace” and slammed government ministers for turning a blind eye to the problem.

 

 The water supply slowly began to resume at the weekend but the problem also triggered a war of words between the government and opposition parties.

 

 New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the government was “incompetent” for not pre-empting the damage to the main pipe and that it should have sacked Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis and the leadership of Thessaloniki Water Supply and Sewerage Company (EYATH).

 

 The government responded that conservative governments over the decades had done nothing to maintain the 40-year-old pipe. </s> Large sections of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki have been without water for a fifth day because of damage to an old pipeline.

The center and north-western parts of Greece's second-largest city have been without water since Tuesday, when a 40-year-old pipeline that brings water to the city from 50 kilometres away burst.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the metropolitan area of 1.2 million, which includes the city's suburbs, have been affected.

Company officials said the damage has been repaired, but water service will resume only gradually, beginning with the city center, and many outlying suburbs will not have water for most of Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, Thessaloniki Water Company chairman Yiannis Krestenitis said that while the damage had been repaired, the water coming through the pipeline was "unfit for consumption".

The company later said the water quality issues had been resolved.

Schools were forced to close, hospitals were affected and people flocked to public fountains to fill plastic bottles and containers with water.

[AP] </s> THESSALONIKI, Greece — Large sections of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki have been without water for a fifth day because of damage to an old pipeline, prompting a judicial investigation into the city’s state-owned water company.

The centre and northwestern parts of Greece’s second-largest city have been without water since Tuesday, when a 40-year-old pipeline that brings water to the city from 50 kilometres (31 miles) away burst. Hundreds of thousands of people in the 1.2-million metropolitan area that includes the city’s suburbs have been affected.

Schools were forced to close, hospitals were affected and people flocked to public fountains to fill plastic bottles and containers with water.

A city prosecutor has opened an investigation into possible damage to public health as well into the city water company’s finances. </s> SANTIAGO: The Chilean authorities worked on Monday (Feb 27) to restore water to some 4.5 million people in the capital Santiago, whose supply had to be cut after deadly floods contaminated a major river.

Three people died in the torrential rains and landslides that hit central Chile over the weekend, emergency officials meanwhile said, revising an initial death toll of four. Nineteen people remain missing, they added.

Production of potable water had been "partially" restarted Monday morning, said Aguas Andinas, the private company responsible for most of Santiago's water supply.

"We'll be restoring potable water service slowly and gradually, starting first thing in the morning and continuing throughout the day," client service manager Eugenio Rodriguez said in a statement.

The storms started Saturday, sending mudslides and rubble surging into the Maipo river, which supplies most homes in the capital of 6.5 million people.

The decision to cut off the water supply prompted many people to go out with buckets and pans to collect water at some 200 emergency taps opened by the authorities.

Others rushed to supermarkets to stockpile bottled water.

Classes in affected schools have been cancelled. </s> Hundreds of demonstrators protesting against shortages of drinking water in southwestern Iran have clashed with police, local media report.

The state-run IRNA news agency said the protesters gathered on June 30 in the city of Khorramshahr, some 650 kilometers from Tehran, chanting slogans against the Iranian authorities.

It said police fired tear gas late in the day as protesters threw stones at officers.

Some unrest continued into the night, the agency reported.

Shots could be heard on videos circulated on social media from the protests in the port city that has been the scene of recent demonstrations, along with the nearby city of Abadan.

The authenticity of the videos could not be confirmed.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

A number of protests have broken out in Iran since the beginning of the year over the lack of drinkable water.

On June 20 and 23, hundreds of residents of Abadan held rallies in front of the governor's office and outside the offices of the city's water and sewage system.

Officials in Khuzestan Province have promised to end the water shortage in Abadan and Khorramshahr in a few weeks, after a new water transmission pipeline becomes fully operational.

Critics say mismanagement by the authorities, combined with years of drought, has led to a drop in rivers' water levels and the groundwater levels in the province.

The protests in Khorramshahr also came after three days of demonstrations in Tehran starting from June 24 over the country's troubled economy.

The rallies included protesters confronting police outside parliament and officers firing tear gas at the demonstrators.

They also led to the temporary closure of the city's Grand Bazaar, where shopkeepers denounced a sharp fall in the value of the national currency, the rial.

With reporting by Reuters and AP </s> People stocked up on bottled water and the authorities ordered restaurants and businesses to remain closed.

Officials also postponed the start of the school term on Monday.

Emergency personnel said the water rushing down from the Andes had also cut roads and isolated thousands of people.

The regional governor of Santiago, Claudio Orrego, said: "We are talking about 1.45 million homes that are going to be affected by the cutting off of the water supply, which will be total or partial in 30 districts."

"We still do not know when the drinking water will be turned back on. We cannot guarantee resumption of the service until the River Maipo clears up."

They said the return of water services would depend on weather conditions and storms over the mountains causing heavy rain.

At least four people are known to have died in the floods.

Chile's central region has had months of drought and a series of deadly wildfires which burned for weeks. </s> People protest in La Paz on November 18, 2016 against Bolivia's water shortage

Bolivia's government declared an emergency on Monday as the country suffers its worst drought in 25 years.

"The cabinet has approved a decree... to declare a national emergency due to the drought and the shortage of water in various regions of the country," President Evo Morales told reporters.

He said the decree unblocks funding for the government and local authorities to tackle the shortages.

Morales said 2016 has been the hottest year in a century for the Andean nation.

The drought started two weeks ago and has caused shortages in seven of the country's 10 biggest cities.

The state water utility EPSAS has started rationing water. Some districts are being served by tanker lorries.

The shortages have sparked protests in various areas, including rural districts whose crops depend on irrigation.

© 2016 AFP </s> DIAVATA, Greece — Hundreds of protesting migrants have clashed with police for a third straight day outside an overcrowded camp, with migrants throwing rocks at officers who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

Several migrants, including children, have fainted amid the clouds of tear gas on Saturday. The protesters have lit fires to make the air more bearable, but fires have also erupted from exploding stun grenades.

Greek officials say the migrants have been mobilized by fake news originating on social media and false reports that the road to central Europe, tightly sealed to migrants for three years, is open, and that buses chartered by non-governmental organizations are waiting on the other side of the border with North Macedonia, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north. </s> DIAVATA, Greece (AP) - Hundreds of protesting migrants have clashed with police for a third straight day outside an overcrowded camp, with migrants throwing rocks at officers who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

Several migrants, including children, have fainted amid the clouds of tear gas on Saturday. The protesters have lit fires to make the air more bearable, but fires have also erupted from exploding stun grenades.

Greek officials say the migrants have been mobilized by fake news originating on social media and false reports that the road to central Europe, tightly sealed to migrants for three years, is open, and that buses chartered by non-governmental organizations are waiting on the other side of the border with North Macedonia, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) to the north.

A man holding two baby strollers runs to avoid tear gas thrown by riot police during clashes outside a refugee camp in the village of Diavata, west of Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Friday, April 5, 2019. Clashes broke out Thursday between migrants and Greek police outside a camp in northern Greece, where hundreds gathered in the hope of reviving a route that saw hundreds of thousands enter more prosperous countries in Europe. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Water shortages caused by a burst pipe in Thessaloniki, Greece, enter a fifth day.