As climate change brings water shortages to vacation hot spots, we look at Greece’s tourism-dependent islands, where residents sometimes compete with visitors for a dwindling supply.
As a prolonged heat wave scorched Greece in mid-June, with temperatures reaching over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, residents of Sifnos, a small island in the western Cyclades, faced a reality they had long anticipated and feared: Their taps ran dry.
After months of practically no rainfall and record-breaking heat, the island had to rely on desalination units to convert seawater to fresh water for its 2,600 residents and thousands of tourists. But when one of the four units broke down in June, the water supply could not meet the demand, leaving some homes and vacation rentals with dry taps for 10 days.
“It was a disaster,” recalled Roula Katselou, 50, a resident of Exambela, one of the largest villages on the island. “We could not shower, cook or clean. We had to carry buckets of water from our neighbors who had cisterns and buy bottled water to wash the children.”
Nikos Galatas, 37, was renting out his parents’ vacation home to an Italian couple when the water was cut, and after reserves in his water tank ran out, the couple moved to another part of the island.
“I lost a lot of money because they had booked the house for 12 days,” Mr. Galatas said. “And it was very stressful to find a suitable alternative when so many of the accommodations were booked up.”
Even after the malfunctioning desalination unit was fixed, water cuts persisted as visitor numbers soared, reaching nearly 40,000 arrivals in August alone.
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