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It’s been another year of record-breaking heat and dwindling rainfall in Greece. Lake levels have noticeably receded. Struggles in the agriculture sector to irrigate make crop production tenuous. Wildfires have complicated water scarcity problems, because, as firefighters battle the infernos, the water they use depletes already weakened supplies. Water reservoirs for Athens are at their lowest levels in over a decade — every single one of the greater Athens area’s fresh supplementary water sources, such as the Evinos reservoir and the small lakes of Yliki and Marathon, have recorded diminished water quantities.
Successive years of insufficient rainfall have been complicated by higher-than-ever water consumption — nearly 35 million visitors flock to the area every year. The arid soil soaks up every drop of rain that falls. Citizens have turned to priests to implore the heavens for rain.
What can be done to solve an age-old water problem in Athens’ contemporary, fast-paced society? Certainly, investing in modern water-sourcing measures such as a new artificial lake and desalination units is a help. But more is needed to supplement the water supply, help cool areas by irrigating green spaces, and, as Katerina Dimitrou of Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Co. says, “create a new water culture.”
In response, Athens has looked to solve the new water instability issue with an existing older asset. The city mothers and fathers are in the process of reviving an ancient aqueduct — a 15-mile, mostly underground network that still runs beneath the city. The aqueduct reclamation project is so powerful that it won international acclaim for urban innovation and is serving as a model for other European cities.
An Aqueduct for the Ages
Europe’s longest functional underground aqueduct dates back to when Greece was part of the Roman Empire. The Roman emperor Hadrian (117–138 CE) gave the nod to many major public works that were important to Athens — such as the project that came to be known as the Hadrian aqueduct. Scholars describe the ancient aqueduct as a masonry channel in an underground tunnel almost 20 km. long.
The aqueduct tunnel was constructed manually through solid rock by hundreds of workers, probably slaves, using simple tools such as chisels and hammers. The underground tunnel sections were constructed in rectangular shaped venues with an arched cover with square and circular shafts at intervals for cleaning and ventilation. The aqueduct collected water from both an initial source and other sources along its route, and the water was transported by gravity to a stone reservoir on the hill of Lykabettos in the city of Athens.
The structure successfully supplied Athens with water for centuries, with the mere exception of the period in which the Ottomans occupied Greece and damaged the aqueduct.
Athens Agrees to Try Out Alternative Water Solutions
Fast forward to the early 20th century and the construction of Athens’ first major dam, which seemed to meet the growing city’s demand for water. The aqueduct became ignored for over a century and nearly abandoned. Nonetheless, it’s now been established that it still is functional as a non-potable water source as it carries water from riverbanks and aquifers along a sloping route.
“It still works, but the water is wasted,” said Christos Giovanopoulos, a project manager at the local authority of Halandri, an Athens suburb that is a testing ground for the initiative, as reported by the New York Times. Channels and tunnels are still preserved in the Olympic Village. “It flows all the way to the central reservoir and then joins the sewage system and is expelled into the sea. Nobody uses it.”
A new two-and-a-half-mile pipeline has been constructed which will tap into the aqueduct. By March homes, schools, and parks will have a new water source for washing and gardening, which will help conserve drinking water. Irrigating green spaces along the aqueduct route will offer a natural cooling effect.
The aqueduct, which has been basically operational all along, is becoming reutilized for irrigation purposes, thus replacing the use of potable water that was used before. “You can discourage people from using water or encourage them to use other sources,” Giovanopoulos added. “This is more positive.”
Homes closest to the pipeline will be directly connected, and those farther away will be supplied by trucks. The water will be free for the first six months.
“We have an ancient monument and feat of engineering that we’re bringing into the present to save water and cool the city,” Dimitrou explained, elaborating on the work that has been done to date in collaboration with the Culture Ministry and local authorities to revive the aqueduct.
From Aqueduct to Awareness of Water’s Scarcity
The aqueduct revitalization project may eventually extend to seven more municipalities and save around 250 million gallons of water per year. While this doesn’t begin to offset the more than 100 billion gallons of water a year used in Athens, the aqueduct will infuse a forward-looking perspective as part of the larger goal to prompt a broader shift in mentality will take time.
The Urban Innovative Action describes one of the project’s many goals, which is to activate local “Hidden Heritage Potential to enhance Local Wellbeing” (HIDRANT). The initiative sees the aqueduct project as a vehicle to reveal local cultural capital, tangible and intangible heritage, and natural and human-made resources. The community revitalization will operate as an innovative way to re-introduce a Roman monument of high cultural and natural significance.
Along with the repositioning of the aqueduct, the initiative promotes green urban policies and sustainable water management. It creates new quality green public spaces by regenerating four neighborhoods.
Local authorities and a nonprofit group are working to raise awareness about the aqueduct by leading tours of ground-level landmarks such as the central reservoir, which visitors can view through windows on its facade.“ Many residents now admit to former habits of leaving the shower running but are now “anxious” about how much water they can use,” said Christidou, a member of Hadrian Community, an association lobbying for residents to manage the distribution of the aqueduct’s water.
The pilot project is being supported by 3.1 million euros (about $3.3 million) in European Union funding.
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