The Greek islands are grappling with a water crisis as tourist season kicks into gear

Several islands, including Leros, Sifnos and parts of Crete and Kefalonia, have declared states of emergency over water shortages, as years of very low rainfall and an abnormally hot winter have taken a toll.

(CNN) — The Greek Islands, known for their idyllic towns, rugged landscapes and sun-baked beaches, are in the grip of a serious crisis. Many are running alarmingly low on water — a problem set to get worse as the tourist season hits full flow and hot dry weather continues.

Several islands, including Leros, Sifnos and parts of Crete and Kefalonia, have declared states of emergency over water shortages, as years of very low rainfall and an abnormally hot winter have taken a toll on reservoirs and underground water sources.

Authorities are scrambling to find solutions, including turning seawater into drinking water, as the islands prepare for millions of tourists to arrive in the weeks ahead.

In Naxos, a mountainous island in the Aegean Sea, fringed with long sandy beaches, reservoirs have shrunk dramatically, revealing parched lake beds. The island’s two rain-fed reservoirs now collectively hold around 200,000 cubic meters of water (52.8 million gallons), just a third of what they had last year.

“The situation for sure is bad,” said Naxos Mayor Dimitris Lianos.

“Climate change is to blame for the water shortages we’re experiencing,” he told CNN. But tourism is worsening the problem by increasing demand, he added.

Naxos can meet its water needs for now, Lianos said, but he is worried about what’s to come, as thousands more tourists are expected to descend on the island over the rest of the summer.

Water shortages are a problem in many parts of Greece, thanks to soaring demand, a lack of sustainable water policies and climate change, but the islands are most vulnerable, said Nikitas Mylopoulos, a professor specializing in water management at the University of Thessaly.

“They combine lack of water resources — shallow aquifers, rare rivers or dams — with a tremendous rise in water demand during summer,” he told CNN.

Climate change-fueled extreme weather adds further stress. Last winter was the country’s warmest since records began in 1960, almost every month this year has seen lower-than-usual rainfall, and the Mediterranean Sea has been at record-high temperatures.

Since October, rainfall in some of the islands has been 40% lower than usual, said Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the National Observatory of Athens. “So, that’s a big problem.”

In Tinos, an island north of Naxos dotted with white-washed cliff-top villages and hundreds of churches, water supply is also at a crunch point.

The island, which doesn’t have reservoirs like Naxos, used to cover its needs through wells and drilling to tap into underground sources. But this is becoming harder and harder as water dries up, said Tinos Mayor Panagiotis Krontiras.

Farmers have also been badly hit. They cannot depend on their wells any more, Krontiras said. The same is true in Naxos, famed for its potatoes, where dried up wells are forcing farmers to seek water elsewhere, at a higher cost.

On Leros, an island in the southern Aegean Sea, the water situation has become so bad that last month authorities declared a state of emergency. Earlier this month, the Greek Navy and defense ministry sent ships carrying water to the island to meet the community’s basic needs.

“But by the end of July, we think we will be able to get back on track, covering our needs,” Kottakis said. “We are not at a point yet to be cancelling bookings.”

“It gives us a breath for now, but this of course is not enough long term,” said Leros Mayor Timotheos Kottakis in an interview on Greek TV in early July. Taps could run completely dry in some parts of the island, he added.

Searching for solutions

As reservoirs shrink and groundwater dwindles, some islands have turned to the pristine ocean waters that surround them for solutions.

Desalination units — which convert seawater to freshwater by removing salts and impurities — have become lifelines for many water-stressed Greek islands, despite often being expensive and energy-hungry.

Naxos is relying on four temporary units to cover the island’s shortfall.

Tinos has between five and six desalination units producing around 5,000 cubic meters a day — enough to fill about two Olympic-sized swimming pools. “Our only way to really fight this shortage in the next years, is by desalination,” Krontiras, the island’s mayor, told CNN.

But even this solution has run into problems in some places.

Kottakis blamed the crisis on Leros on a failure to maintain the island’s two desalination units, which are both in disrepair.

Fears over water are also adding fuel to a vigorous debate about overtourism on the islands as visitor numbers climb upwards and development booms.

Tourism is “unsustainable and zero-planned,” which is leading to a tremendous rise in water demand, said Mylopoulos, the university professor.

Krontiras is particularly concerned about the boom in swimming pools in Tinos and elsewhere, which is adding increased stress to water systems. Given the crisis, he said, “we need the state to maybe start viewing differently the need for swimming pools to exist on the islands.”

The situation looks to be coming to a head as August’s peak tourist season approaches — where demand for water will be highest — and dry, hot weather looks set to continue. “Many other islands will face problems during this period if we don’t take measures,” said Lagouvardos.

Greece is in the throes of a brutal heat wave, with temperatures pushing above 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

It’s the second of the summer, following an early heat wave last month, which was the country’s warmest June on record. Multiple wildfires raged and at least six tourists, including British TV presenter and doctor Michael Moseley and an American tourist, died as high temperatures scorched the Greek islands.

There are no quick answers to the crisis.

In Naxos, the authorities are coming up with a plan for how to manage water once the temporary desalination units go, Lianos said, such as recycling waste water and tapping into underground water resources. “This plan will require funding and state assistance and maybe loans,” he said. “But this is work that needs to be done.”

Leros is repairing its two desalination units and renting another desalination unit to boost its supply, and in Tinos, there are plans to build a large desalination plant to “shield our island for the years to come,” Krontiras said.

He is also calling for a more centralized water management system, to take into account the needs of everyone, “rather than private individuals going their own way.”

Water shortages will likely continue into the future, and solving them will require people to rethink water, and how to share it fairly, Krontiras said.

“It is time to view water consumption in a different way,” he said. “Everyone needs to understand that water is a precious resource right now.”

CNN’s Allison Chinchar, Brandon Miller and Sara Tonks contributed reporting

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