The revival of an previous Roman methodology of supplying water (non potable) to be used in different wants moreover consuming or cooking. The aqueduct nonetheless works and Greece is placing the previous provide line to good use after hundred of years.
Hadrian’s Aqueduct equipped water to Greece’s capital for hundreds of years however was then largely deserted. It’s being revived to ease water shortage amid world warming.
Athens’s New Reply to a Water Provide Crunch: An Historical Aqueduct
Local weather change introduced one other 12 months of record-breaking warmth and dwindling rainfall to Greece, the reservoirs that provide water to Athens have dropped to their lowest ranges in over a decade. Farmers are struggling to supply crops, wildfires have elevated the demand for water and monks are conducting prayers for rain.
So along with investing in trendy water-sourcing measures like a brand new synthetic lake and desalination items, Athens is popping to an older asset: an aqueduct that dates again to when Greece was a part of the Roman Empire.
“We have an ancient monument and feat of engineering that we’re bringing into the present to save water and cool the city,” mentioned Katerina Dimitrou of the Athens Water Provide and Sewerage Firm, which has labored with the Tradition Ministry and native authorities to revive the aqueduct.
The intention is to complement the water provide, assist cool areas by irrigating inexperienced areas and, extra broadly, mentioned Ms. Dimitrou, “create a new water culture.”
“We have an ancient monument and feat of engineering that we’re bringing into the present to save water and cool the city,” mentioned Katerina Dimitrou of the Athens Water Provide and Sewerage Firm, which has labored with the Tradition Ministry and native authorities to revive the aqueduct.
The intention is to complement the water provide, assist cool areas by irrigating inexperienced areas and, extra broadly, mentioned Ms. Dimitrou, “create a new water culture.”
Now, a brand new two-and-a-half-mile pipeline tapping into the aqueduct will present scores of properties in addition to faculties and parks with a brand new water supply by March, Mr. Giovanopoulos mentioned. Houses closest to the pipeline will probably be immediately related, and people farther away will probably be equipped by vans, he mentioned, noting that the water will probably be free for the primary six months.
The water, which is non-potable, will probably be destined for laundry and gardening to assist preserve consuming water that will in any other case go to such makes use of. The eventual intention is to increase the mission to a different seven municipalities underneath which the aqueduct runs, saving over 250 million gallons of water per 12 months, Mr. Giovanopoulos mentioned.
This can be a fraction of the greater than 100 billion gallons of water used yearly in Athens, these behind the pilot mission acknowledge. However the aqueduct route can even irrigate inexperienced areas, which present a pure cooling impact.
The pilot mission, which was supported by 3.1 million euros, about $3.3 million, in European Union funding, has additionally gained worldwide acclaim for city innovation and is serving as a mannequin for different European cities.
Mission organizers are sharing their know-how with different cities, together with Serpa, Portugal, which hopes to repurpose a Seventeenth-century aqueduct to irrigate inexperienced areas and provide native properties, and Rome, the place there’s curiosity within the collaborative nature of the Athens initiative, notably residents’ participation.
Miguel Serra, of Serpa’s municipal authority, mentioned the Athens mission had “fantastic ideas to promote,” akin to “the reuse of water for public irrigation or to create new green areas, and the connection with the local community.”
Many in Athens are unaware of the aqueduct or the rejuvenation plans, together with within the surrounding space. Its central reservoir is in a public sq. known as Dexameni — Greek for reservoir — which pulls crowds for an open-air cinema and a restaurant that was a gathering level for Greek writers within the early twentieth century.
“Ninety-five percent of customers don’t know the aqueduct exists,” mentioned Nektarios Nikolopoulos, 48, the cafe’s proprietor. “They know Dexameni for the cafe, not its history.”
So the native authorities partnered with a nonprofit group to lift consciousness concerning the aqueduct by main excursions of ground-level landmarks just like the central reservoir, which guests can view via home windows on its facade.
But a whole lot of Halandri residents have been instrumental in getting the mission off the bottom.
Christina Christidou, 56, is one in every of about 250 residents who’ve utilized to have their properties related to the aqueduct water. Although initially additionally unaware of the aqueduct, she has helped arrange workshops for the group and faculties, which helped revamp inexperienced areas above the aqueduct’s route.
“We used to leave the shower running, but now we’re anxious about how much water we can use,” mentioned Ms. Christidou, a member of Hadrian Neighborhood, an affiliation lobbying for residents to handle the distribution of the aqueduct’s water.
Prompting a broader shift in mentality will take time, officers mentioned. However they mentioned the aqueduct provided a forward-looking perspective.
“You can discourage people from using water or encourage them to use other sources,” mentioned Mr. Giovanopoulos, the mission supervisor. “This is more positive.”
Niki Kitsantonis is a contract correspondent for The Instances based mostly in Athens. She has been writing about Greece for 20 years, together with greater than a decade of protection for The Instances. Extra about Niki Kitsantonis
