Flood Waters Give A Temporary Lifeline to Aposelemis Dam

• Flood waters added over one million cubic meters to the Aposelemis Dam.
• Water reserves jumped to 4.5 million cubic meters, a spike from two weeks ago.
• Local water authorities will stick with current supply limits, unchanged by recent rains.
• Mesara farmers see no relief, as the Faneromeni Dam is now completely dry.
• Illegal water connections at Faneromeni Dam were removed, closing off unauthorized taps.
• The coming months still look shaky for water access, despite recent storms.
• Watch a local news video for more details (in Greek): KritiTV Report.

Residents of Crete who have been counting water bottles rather than sheep at night got a brief break, and they owe it to a deluge. Last week’s floods from the Lasithi Plateau delivered more than a million cubic meters straight into the Aposelemis Dam, as if Zeus himself had decided to refill the basin.

Water levels soared past 4.5 million cubic meters in the blink of an eye. Put in human terms, that’s enough to keep showers running and gardens green through October. Two weeks earlier? The same reservoir had barely scraped past 3.4 million—a difference significant enough to get even the most pessimistic water engineer smiling (or at least less frowning than usual).

Aris Papadogiannis, the man in charge at OAK, confirmed that this new water cache is, in his words, a breath of fresh air for local supplies. But hold the applause: no major policy changes are on the horizon. The deal with the water companies in Heraklion, Hersonissos, and Agios Nikolaos might as well have been carved in stone. They will keep drawing the same hourly water allotments: 500 cubic meters in May and June, 650 in July and August. Apparently, bureaucrats hydrate best with strict quotas.

Mesara: Where Hope Evaporates Faster Than Water

Meanwhile, in the Mesara valley, the mood is as dry as the soil. Farmers have watched the Faneromeni Dam sink to zero, not a drop left to fight over. Grigoris Nikolidakis, who has seen enough chaos to last a lifetime, warned that the plain could dry up for good if the situation keeps spiraling. The term “rock bottom” doesn’t do this justice—rock-dry is closer.

This mess didn’t fall from the sky. Last August, crews from the Region of Crete began tearing out illegal connections at the Faneromeni Dam and closed off those notorious “unplanned” outflow pipes. Water theft had flooded the system for years with headaches and empty promises, but now the only thing pouring out is disappointment. Mesara’s fields bear the scars while the water charts stay stubbornly flat.