page_title: Water supply and sanitation in Greece
section_title: Water sources of Athens
hierarchical_section_title: Water supply and sanitation in Greece / Water resources / Water sources of Athens
caption_attribution_description: English: The reservoir of the Mornos river, Central Greece. Seen from the north-west; with the town of Lidoriki and the southern extensions of the mountain Giona in the background.
context_page_description: Water supply and sanitation in Greece is characterised by diversity. While Athens receives its water from a series of reservoirs, some of which are located 200 km away, some small islands are supplied with water from tankers. Greeks have suffered from repeated droughts, the most recent one occurring in 2007. The EU supported the construction of numerous wastewater treatment plants since the 1990s in order to achieve EU environmental standards. While the wastewater discharge of the biggest cities is now in compliance with these standards, some smaller towns still lag behind.
  In Athens and Thessaloniki, two state utilities – EYDAP and EYATH – are in charge of water supply and sanitation. The companies, which are listed on the Athens stock exchange, post profits despite low tariffs, partly due to investment subsidies from the state. Outside the two largest cities, 230 different municipal utilities are in charge of water supply and sanitation. As part of the so-called Kallikratis plan for local government reform, smaller municipalities and municipal utilities are to be merged into larger units.
context_section_description: Because local water sources are insufficient and to hedge against the risk of drought, the metropolitan area of the capital Athens, where more than a third of the population of Greece lives, is supplied by five different water sources, the most distant one located almost 200 km away. The five sources are:
  Lake Marathon close to the city with an operational capacity of 34 million cubic meters and tapped since 1931 through the Boyati tunnel.
  Lake Yliki, 60 km northwest of the capital with an operational capacity of 590 million cubic metres and tapped since 1959.
  The Mornos reservoir 192 km to the west of Athens with an operational capacity of 670 million cubic metres, tapped since 1980 through a system of tunnels and canals.
  the Evinos reservoir with an operational capacity of 113 million cubic metres, completed in 2001, and linked via a tunnel with the Mornos Reservoir.
  105 boreholes in three wellfields that are used only in emergency situations.
  Due to the need to pump large quantities of water over long distances and mountains, the water company of Athens is the second-largest electricity customer in Greece.
  Thessaloniki is partly supplied by the Aliakmon River.
  The Aegean islands are partly supplied by local groundwater sources. However, some smaller islands have insufficient water resources and have to be supplied via tanker ships at a high cost. For example, the islands Kimolos, Irakleia, Schoinoussa, Symi, Halki, Patmos and Kastelorizo (Megisti) were partly or entirely supplied via tankers as of 2008. Seawater desalination using renewable energy is an emerging option for these islands. A small wind-powered floating desalination plant has been built as a pilot in 2008 and has been anchored off the shore of Irakleia. Historically the inhabitants of Greek islands have also harvested winter rains from rooftops for use during the summer.
caption: Lake Mornos, created by a dam that was initially built for local water supply, is now partially diverted to supply Athens with drinking water
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