- The Water Alliances workshop brings together major Greek and international players.
- Minister Papastavrou wants everyone to join a “total mobilization” against the drought.
- There are three goals: smarter water management, funding for infrastructure, and making water conservation less of a joke.
- Memories of the ’90s drought resurface—back when mullets were trendy and water-saving was an emergency.
- “We don’t have the luxury of waiting,” says the Minister, sounding like your dad on Sunday morning.
- The real solution: Work together before Greece turns into a giant, sun-baked rock.
- Water issues in Greece are as persistent as a summer heatwave—so you’ll want to read this.
The Water Alliances Workshop: Who Brought the Buckets?
The scene: A lineup of suits and experts crowded into the first ‘Water Alliances’ workshop—imagine lots of earnest nodding and carefully worded statements about the future of water. It’s organized by the Technical Chamber of Greece, EYDAP, the TEE-TMEDE Institute, and ‘We Are Greece’. Somewhere between the coffee and the bottled water, Minister Stavros Papastavrou stands up and pronounces: “People, we’re out of time. Grab your buckets—or, you know, do something useful.”
He remembers that this isn’t a brand-new problem. In the early ’90s, the country had its dry spell drama. The response then? Mass panic, official campaigns, government scrambling, and maybe some slightly less obsessive showering. Fast forward thirty years, and we’re still talking about the same crisis, just with flashier PowerPoints and guest appearances from US and Israeli experts (presumably to show us how it’s really done).
Participants included local bigwigs and technocrats: Giorgos Stasinos (President of TEE), Giorgos Stergiou (EYDAP), Konstantinos Makedos (TEE-TMEDE), Antonis Giannikouris (We are Greece), and Petros Varelidis (Secretary of Environment and Waters)—plus representatives from here and abroad. Spoiler: There was a lot of agreement that things look bad and someone should do something.
The Minister’s Big Plan (Not as Easy as Turning Off the Tap)
Papastavrou set out three goals that pretty much anyone could have come up with, but let’s give credit for saying them out loud:
- “Holistic management” of water supply and irrigation. Translation: “We have 750+ agencies and none of them talk to each other. Maybe we should fix that.”
- Serious investment in upgrading old pipes, repairing irrigation systems, desalinating water (especially brackish stuff), and building new reservoirs and dams. “These investments are expensive, but we don’t have the luxury to wait,” he declared, probably while side-eyeing someone squeezing a plastic bottle.
- Convincing people to use less water instead of flooding their gardens and ignoring leaks. Papastavrou’s words: “We must all work together, with coordination and a plan, to overcome this problem, so our children and future generations will not face it again.”
He even gave a shoutout to the foreign experts in the room: “The problem of drought is shared among countries,” he said. Thank you to the delegates from the US and Israel for sharing their expertise.” Apparently, Greece might need a little outside help to turn the tap back on.
In case you snoozed through the last few lines, here are the main points, yet again:
- Fix the spaghetti mess of water managers.
- Find real money for upgrades—no more duct tape.
- Push society to treat water like it’s not unlimited.
- Start acting now; tomorrow’s too late.
So, unless you want to watch your houseplants suffer—maybe join the Water Alliances. At this rate, Greece can’t afford another ’90s drought rerun.
