Farmers in new drive to save water
Farmers on the Thessaloniki Plain have saved 100 million cubic meters of water over the past five months, thanks to their own efforts to curb losses through irrigation practices as well as due to regional initiative that restricted their use of water. Farmers were provided with 450 cubic meters of water in May following an agreement between the water department of Central Macedonia’s regional authorities and the Public Power Corporation (PPC), which uses water to run local hydroelectric plants. PPC granted the use to local farmers of 450 cubic meters of water from an artificial lake near Kozani. An assessment yesterday, just a few days before the end of the farmers’ traditional irrigation period, shows that farmers in the three prefectures of Thessaloniki, Pella and Imathia have consumed 430 cubic meters of water, Central Macedonia’s water department chief, Nikos Tsotsolis, told a UNESCO-backed seminar in Thessaloniki. «Compared to the same period last year, there has been a reduction in water consumption of 100 million cubic meters,» Tsotsolis said, adding that the amount saved could supply all of Athens for more than three months. But the amount saved also indicates the volume of water being lost through wasteful irrigation practices. So regional authorities are planning a strategy for next year’s irrigation period to ensure that farmers do not fall back on old bad habits. «This would mean that even if we have more rainfall next year, our water consumption will remain at the same level,» Tsotsolis said. Regional authorities claim that such water-saving goals are attainable despite the growth in water-guzzling rice and corn fields on the Thessaloniki Plain. Seven water management programs – some of which are cross-border initiatives – are currently being implemented in Greece, the seminar was told. Greece is among the «wettest» Mediterranean countries, with an average of 80 cubic centimeters of rainfall per year, as compared to 63 cubic centimeters per year in Spain and 49 cubic centimeters in Cyprus.
