Water supply and sanitation in Greece

Water supply and sanitation in Greece is characterised by diversity. While Athens receives its water from a series of reservoirs, some of which are located 200 km away, some small islands are supplied with water from tankers. Greeks have suffered from repeated droughts, the most recent one occurring in 2007. The EU supported the construction of numerous wastewater treatment plants since the 1990s in order to achieve EU environmental standards. While the wastewater discharge of the biggest cities is now in compliance with these standards, some smaller towns still lag behind.

Two state utilities, EYDAP in Athens and EYATH in Thessaloniki, are in charge of water supply and sanitation for about half the population. These publicly traded companies post profits despite low tariffs, partly due to investment subsidies from the state. Outside the two largest cities, 230 different municipal utilities are in charge of water supply and sanitation. As part of the so-called Kallikratis plan for local government reform, smaller municipalities and municipal utilities are to be merged into larger units. The Greek financial crisis is making it difficult for Greek utilities to increase tariffs, to enforce payment of arrears and to service their debt.