Water shortages demand action
During an interview in 1993 with Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, when all the other reporters were asking about «political developments,» I ventured to ask a different kind of question. I asked him whether there was a threat of water shortages on the horizon for Greece and whether his government planned to take any measures to combat it. I remember that his response provoked surprise because he answered in detail and with apparent commitment. It appeared that his administration had been considering the issue in depth and planning the implementation of certain measures. However, later that year, Mitsotakis’s administration lost power and successive governments have not attempted to tackle the problem since then, preferring to focus on other issues. We do not need to start panicking but we should acknowledge the fact that we have reached a situation which is impossible to reverse and difficult to improve. It was always inevitable that we would have to pay for the lack of judiciousness we have shown, and continue to show, in using our planet’s natural resources. And now it is finally payback time. Europe, which has always been more responsible than us in its use of natural resources, appears to have been distracted by its aim to boost competitiveness and has not made the efforts it should have to protect our environment. But now that the situation is critical we are all struggling to find solutions. As far back as the 1980s, I was surprised to see a sign in a hotel bathroom in Hammerfest, Norway, asking guests not to waste water. It made a real impression on me that the Norwegians, who have plenty of water, were urging their fellow citizens to do so. Meanwhile in Greece, where we do have a water shortage, very few measures had been taken then and even today there is no systematic water-saving plan. So what do we do now? Well, for a start, we are lucky we belong to the EU as we will be obliged to implement the measures it imposes on member states. We are also lucky to have our countryman Stavros Dimas as the EU’s environment commissioner; a conscientious and knowledgeable man, he can accomplish much. But from there onward, it is the government’s responsibility to take responsibility. And it is not easy to convince the average Greek to follow orders; a concerted public awareness campaign needs to be carried out and this means convincing private television channels that the country has problems other than self-styled anarchists seeking trouble with the police. There should be informative programs and advertisements; water authorities could help make this a reality. This problem is a major one and demands that responsibility be taken on many levels.
