Drought-hit Greece to secure water supply with $3 billion plan

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece plans to spend around 2.5 billion euros ($2.92 billion) to secure water supplies for its population over the next 30 years as it faces drought and increased demands on scare resources, its environment minister said on Thursday.

Much of Greece, which sits on Europe's warmest southern tip and uses about 10 billion cubic metres of water a year, has seen baking summers and winters with little or no rain in recent years, which scientists attribute to a fast-warming climate.

A huge man-made lake in central Greece which supplies water for nearly half of the country's population of more than 10 million has dwindled to its lowest level in decades.

"Greece will be facing the second most severe water stress in southern Europe after Cyprus," Stavros Papastravrou told an event in Athens, adding that the capital and Greece's second biggest city of Thessaloniki would bear the brunt.

Papastravrou said that since 2022, the annual fall in Greece's water reserves had reached about 250 million cubic metres, rainfall has decreased by about 25%, evaporation had risen by about 15% and water consumption had risen by 6%.

The seven-point plan to address the crisis includes funnelling water through tunnels from two tributaries to a reservoir in western Greece, using desalination plants and boring wells to help secure enough water for Athens.

Greece's biggest water utilities, EYDAP and EYATH, will also take charge of the irrigation grid now operated by dozens of smaller local utilities as the country steps up efforts to modernise its fragmented water management and deal with leaky pipes, Papastavrou added.

"While Singapore and Israel are reusing every single drop twice or three times, our (water) losses stand at 50%," he said.

Greece will get technical advice from the European Commission to address the challenge.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Alexander Smith)