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On a Greek island renowned for its crystal-clear waters, local farmers are struggling to grow the crops they've produced for decades. It's a problem across Greece, where island water is scarce for both households and crops. And tourism, a mainstay of the country's economy, is making the problem worse. Niki Kitsantonis reports.
NIKI KITSANTONIS, BYLINE: (Non-English language spoken).
NONDAS GAVALAS: (Non-English language spoken).
KITSANTONIS: (Non-English language spoken).
Nondas Gavalas slaloms through the chickens on his organic farm on the island of Amorgos.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
KITSANTONIS: For years, he's been selling products like olive oil and fava - a yellow pea used to make a dip that's popular in Greek tavernas. Gavalas says the island's fava even clinched European Union protected status in July, a distinction aimed at granting producers premium prices.
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KITSANTONIS: But Mother Nature had other ideas. You can hear the parched earth crunch as you walk. Gavalas, and farmers like him, haven't produced fava for three years.
GAVALAS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: "It's zero. It's zero. We didn't even get the seed back," he says.
There are no olives this year, either. Figs, grapes and citrus trees are struggling too. Resigned, he crumbles up a tree branch.
GAVALAS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: He says the ground of Amorgos has all dried up. Gavalas says there's been little rain these past three years, and what did fall quickly evaporated. As a result, seawater has seeped into the dry ground, harming crops even more. He also blames the authorities for not responding quickly.
GAVALAS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: "We saw this coming," he says. "Scientists have been shouting about climate change for years, that desertification is coming. It's come. It's here. And then we have increased needs for tourism, and we do nothing."
The mayor says he's doing all he can. Eleftherios Karaiskos says dwindling rainfall is only part of the problem. The water supply network is in such bad shape that 30% of it leaks out - is wasted.
ELEFTHERIOS KARAISKOS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: "What we're trying to do is restore the water table. It'll take a few years." To do that, authorities will fix the leaks and redirect treated wastewater currently going into the sea back to water-hungry farms.
KARAISKOS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: "Water is limited. We should save as much of it as we can."
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GIORGOS KOVAIOS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: I walk around one of the island's two desalination plants with Giorgos Kovaios. He oversees the plants and says the island has always been short of water. They used to ship it in on ferries until that was too expensive. They relied on natural springs until they went dry. Illegal boreholes have sapped water resources, too.
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KOVAIOS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: "We always had a problem with water, but it's gotten worse, and desalination plants are the immediate solution."
Gotten worse in part because of an increasing number of tourists, which means the plant has to be expanded a second time. Experts are studying the water shortages on Greek islands and how to solve them without hurting tourism, which makes up a fifth of the Greek economy. Professor Dimitris Emmanouloudis heads a government-backed study into drought on Greek islands. He says there has to be limits to tourism. Greece welcomes 3 1/2 times as many tourists as there are residents.
DIMITRIS EMMANOULOUDIS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: "Think about it. In the U.S., the numbers would be 1 billion."
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KITSANTONIS: Farmer Gavalas says tourists are welcome, but agriculture needs to survive.
GAVALAS: (Speaking Greek).
KITSANTONIS: "Do we want tourists to come and eat tomatoes from Poland," he asks, "Or do we want to offer them crops that this land can yield? What do we want?"
What he would like to see is a balance - tourists and farming, and enough water for both.
For NPR News, I'm Niki Kitsantonis.
(SOUNDBITE OF MASEGO'S "YOU NEVER VISIT ME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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