Water supply of Greek cities: the WFD and the principles of integrated water resources management

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this paper, the water supply conditions in the major Greek cities have been investigated and a comprehensive description is provided. It has occurred that the choice of the catchment area as the administrative unit for water management purposes is rather more adapted to urban water management in Western Europe, than in Greece. In fact, while the major cities in France, Spain and the UK can be mainly supplied by water issued from the catchment area in which they are located, interbasin water transfer is necessary in Greece. The reasons are both hydrological, with the typical catchment area size in Greece being rather small, and because the economic activities of the Greek cities are not linked to rivers; so only a few of them are built on large watersheds. The reduction of water losses due to network leakage is suggested as a method for the decrease of interbasin transfer volumes.