One of the impacts related to the construction of a large number of dams, was the significant reduction of natural recharge in downstream riverbed aquifers, due to the cut-off effect. At present, this reduction is compensated through dam releases aiming at artificial recharge. However, this has not been the case in the past few years, due to the adverse hydrological conditions (see Table below).

Artificial recharge from dams (2000 – 2004)

The current cropping patterns include water intensive crops such as citrus (70,893 da; water demand 51.9 hm³), deciduous (24,809 da; water demand 17.3 hm³), olive trees (19,847 da; water demand 8.5 hm³) and annual crops (fodders – potatoes – greenhouses – open field vegetables) (118,724 da; water demand 65.5 hm³) posing a heavy burden on the water demand in the area. These cropping patterns should be substituted with less water demanding crops such as flowers, aromatic plants and winter crops which rely more on rainfall.

Water losses in the domestic water distribution networks, mainly in the rural areas, are quite high in the region. The unaccounted water in the main urban domestic supply distribution networks is estimated to be 15 to 20% and about 20 to 30% in the rural areas. Therefore, an additional effort should be made for detecting and replacing defective pipes and for establishing a more conscious attitude towards precious water.