Jean Marie Guillon

 

The issue of water in general worries every Mediterranean country, but getting water to towns which have grown enormously and rapidly over the past few years is a real headache. To satisfy the growing demand you have to bring it from a long way away, usually from a reservoir up in the mountains. This news report shows how this whole series of problems sparked off a perfect example of Mediterranean cooperation. The expertise of the Société du canal de Provence, particularly in automated regulation, enabled it to win the contract to supply Athens with water. The water comes from the Oïti mountains in central Greece and is stored in the dammed reservoir at Mornos, built in 1972 and which has only just been filled up. The canal taking the water is 190 kilometres long (including 30 kilometres underground and 110 of true canal) with a flow of 23 cubic metres per second.

The agglomeration of Athens has grown from less than half a million people to more than 3 million (of whom 800,000 live in the town itself), that is nearly a third of the country's total population. That's why, given the importance and size of the project, it's the Greek state which is in charge of building it.