The issue of water shortage that concerns many regions of the country has reached the Parliament, while in some places the alarm is “red”. As the chairperson of the subcommittee on water resources of the special standing committee on environmental protection, Dionysia – Theodora Avgerinopoulou, noted in a special session of the Parliament, “2024 has been characterized both in Greece and in many countries abroad, as an arid year, as the rainfall and in general the precipitation of water, even in the form of snow, was this year the lowest of the last years”.
The water reserves in Attica are sufficient for about 4 years, while at least 14 municipalities of the country have been declared by the General Secretariat of Civil Protection to be in a state of emergency. Among them are five municipalities of Crete, Serifos, Sifnos, Leros, Poros and Spetses. In the closed session, experts were invited to give their opinion on the matter, while opposition MPs criticized the government, accusing it of not having a plan ready to deal with the problem.
“A permanent political crime”
From PaSoK, the member of parliament, Katerina Spyridaki, who is a member of the sub-committee, stated that “it is really disappointing to be in 2024 and to still be debating in the style of findings and quoting data on the issue of water scarcity and anomie as if it’s something new. Even climate change and its subsequent extremes of weather I feel we are dealing with as if it were an unprecedented surprise.”
KKE Member of Parliament and member of the sub-committee, Semina Digeni, noted that this is “a permanent political crime” and added that “water throughout the capitalist world, from a vital natural resource, social good and social property, has now turned into a highly paid commodity, for the people and a source of endless profits for big capital. The sharpening of the contradictions, on the issues of water management and their extension to other areas, can even take on the character of military conflicts”.
From the government’s side, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Vassilis Spanakis, explained that the solution to the problem is an absolute priority. “The Government of the New Republic, the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is in a permanent partnership, both with the municipalities of the country, as well as with the relevant Ministries, to intervene effectively, immediately and ensuring sufficient and excellent quality water in every Region of the country , in every Municipality of the country, in every corner of the country, in every household of the country”.
What was said in Parliament
However, the matter occupied other committees as well as the Plenary of the Parliament.
Speaking yesterday from the floor of the Parliament, on the occasion of the bill of the Ministry of Finance, the MP of the KKE, Nikos Karathanasopoulos, mockingly wondered how it is possible to have a shortage of water “when we are drowning at every turn”. Addressing the government, he said that they treat water as a commodity “that needs to be privatized as well as its price. As he said, since 2004, the KKE has highlighted the problems of over-tourism that leads to waste. “There is water for swimming pools and there is no water for people to drink,” he noted.
From the New Left, MP Peti Perka, during the special standing committee on Institutions and Transparency, raised a question about water pricing. “I am asking if the reports are true that the Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Thessaloniki has proposed a tariff increase and that EYDAP has also left open the issue of a tariff increase. Whether there will be a cap on water consumption and tiered pricing, but I’m more interested in whether the Authority will be bypassed once again or whether it will play a role,” he said.
“Water is and will remain cheap”
However, despite what the Minister of Environment and Energy said about the increase in water prices, the Prime Minister in his radio interview yesterday seems to have closed this issue, rejecting this possibility. “We are not going for increases in water. Water is and will remain cheap for low consumption. It makes sense if you consume more you pay more. The maximum we are discussing is an increase to the limits of inflation,” he said characteristically.
“Attica does not face a water shortage problem. We had two bad winters. This water we have lasts for another 4 bad winters. We will proceed with the project of transporting water from the artificial lake of Kremasto so that we can be assured that Attica will never face a water shortage problem,” continued Mr. Mitsotakis.
Regarding the islands, the prime minister noted that “we need a better policy of coordination so that each island does not make its own policy but is done centrally. And we are talking about water supply and not irrigation” noting that “85% of the water consumed goes to agriculture and to a small extent to livestock. It is a matter of how we ensure that we have water for irrigation without leaks and how we implement the use of technology.”
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