- Satellite data reveal the reservoir is at only 23% of its normal surface.
- A continuous decline was recorded from 2022 to 2025.
- Concerns rise for agriculture, ecosystems, and water supply in Crete.
The Aposelemis reservoir, Crete’s largest water project, is now a fraction of what it should be. Fresh data from the National Observatory of Athens and its METEO unit, using the European Sentinel-2 satellite, shows that by mid-September 2025, the reservoir’s surface had dwindled to just 0.44 square kilometers. The normal figure is 1.9 square kilometers.
In September 2022, water covered roughly 1.2 square kilometers. One year later, in 2023, the outline had retreated further. By 2024, the shrinking was apparent to the naked eye. And now, in 2025, the figures translate to only 23% of the reservoir’s normal surface.
“The decline is alarming,” noted meteorologist Kostas Lagouvardos, pointing to the sequence of images processed by the Observatory. Each frame — September 2022, 2023, 2024, and now 2025 — traces a story of water slipping away.
The consequences are not abstract. For local farmers, less water means smaller harvests and more uncertainty. The fragile ecosystems around Aposelemis are threatened, disrupting the balance. And for Crete’s residents and its visitors, it poses the uncomfortable question of whether the island can quench the thirst of its people and its millions of summer guests in years to come.
The reservoir was designed as a safeguard, a promise that Crete would not run dry. Today, its cracked shores suggest otherwise.
For visitors, too, the shrinking waters change the story: birdwatching loses habitats, familiar walking paths turn to cracked mud, and if the trend continues, even hotel pools and everyday showers may no longer be taken for granted.
