Sustainable development of natural resources in Northern Greece, focusing on water supply reliability and public health protection

Abstract

The rapid and almost uncontrolled growth of population has a result a continuously increasing water demand in agriculture needs, industrial uses and domestic services. This has a dramatic impact on the available water resources and at the same time put the basic infrastructure facilities under severe pressure. As a result, significant deficiencies have emerged such as service discontinuity and interruption in distribution and delivery. This most of the times leads to contamination of potable water or at least affects the quality of it. Research has shown that water resources in Northern Greece is well above the current, the mid- and the long-term needs of its local communities. Although only 79% of the municipalities which correspond to 61% of the population of the area is provided with uninterrupted water flow. This is due to unwise strategies used in water management at a national, regional and local level along with lack and bad quality of infrastructures concerning water reservoirs and water networks. There is a critical need for advance actions to be taken and arrangement of integrated strategies which will ensure both water sufficiency and protection of the public health.