Lake Koronia, considered one of Greece’s largest lakes, is shrinking after a chronic drought and a summer of record-breaking temperatures, forsaking cracked earth, dead fish and a persistent stench.
Where fishermen once pulled trout and tench into their boats, today young people ride through the dust on motorbikes.
Locals report that the 42-square-kilometer body of water near Thessaloniki is shrinking by the day – a fate shared by three other vital natural lakes in Greece’s breadbasket of Central Macedonia.
“The stench from the lake is getting worse. If there is not enough snow and rain, the problem will be even worse next year,” said local people leader Kostas Hadzivoulgaridis.
“We (officials) need to take immediate action to protect the lake,” the 50-year-old told AFP.
Water levels in three other natural lakes within the region – Doirani, Volvi and Pikrolimni – are also at their lowest in a decade, in response to data from Greece’s Biotope Wetland Centre last month.
According to Irini Varsami, an area hydrologist, the region has seen “very little” rainfall over the past two years and this yr’s temperatures were the best within the last decade.
The lake not only loses its water directly through evaporation, but can be drained by the “increasing irrigation needs (of farmers) in the surrounding region,” considered one of the country’s most significant food-producing plains.
“We hope for rain”
While the coasts seem like a dull lunar landscape, further inland within the shallow waters flocks of migrating pink flamingos graze.
Anthi Vafiadou, a regional supervisor at Greece’s state environmental protection agency, said it was “too early” to attract conclusions in regards to the impact of the drought on the lake’s biodiversity.
“We have to wait and see how the winter season develops. We hope there will be more rain,” she told AFP.
However, in response to the Biotope Wetland Centre, it is evident that climate change is putting enormous strain on the lakes.
According to the national observatory, Greece experienced its warmest winter and summer since reliable data collection began in 1960.
The Greek Environment Ministry this week unveiled a multi-billion euro plan to enhance water supplies and curb rampant water loss resulting from poor management.
“Completely disappeared”
Less than an hour’s drive north offers a grim vision of what the long run might hold.
Pikrolimni or “Bitter Lake” is the one salt lake on the Greek mainland.
But today Pikrolimni is barely a lake in name. All that continues to be are the patterns formed by the water that evaporated through the long drought.
On its edge lie abandoned hotels and a mud bath.
“This is the first summer that the lake has been in such a state. There has been no rain, the water has completely disappeared and the lake has literally dried up,” said Argyris Vergis, an 80-year-old local.
“This area used to be full of tourists, but now you can watch motorcycle races on the lake on the Internet. It’s tragic,” said the retired bank worker.
