Future of Acheloos water
The people of Thessaly have been pushing for the diversion for 24 years; the people of Acarnania have been fighting it with equal fervor. The cause of the dispute: All the water that will be lost to Aitoloacarnania will go to the plain of Thessaly. * 280 kilometers of river, 17.5 kilometers of tunnel to divert the water into Thessaly; * The Council of State has rejected the plan six times; * 3,900 of the 63,000 hectares of the Acheloos Delta are protected by the Ramsar Convention; * 500,000 hectares under cultivation, 250,000 hectares irrigated (18.7 percent of the country’s total); * 70 percent irrigated with underground water reserves and municipal wells, 30 percent with surface water; wells now reach depths of 350 meters, compared to 35 meters in 1970; * Extent of irrigated areas increased by 229 percent since 1962, 46 percent since 1980; * Water shortage now 1,000-1,500 cubic meters, diversion will provide 600 million cubic meters.
