It doesn΄t take long to go from there΄s plenty of water to the boreholes have dried up

When the responsible Deputy Regional Governor, Spyros Ioannou, declared "there is water", Mayor Stefanos Poulimenos felt as if the knife was being twisted in the wound. The reason was that he had already lost sleep, watching one after another of the boreholes in Central Corfu dry up! Yet, it is possible to refer to both situations, as long as it's not done carelessly and just to make an impression.

To sum up what has repeatedly and periodically been made public this summer. In the Island's Water Resource Management Plans (2022-23), based on seven years of data and published this year, the adequacy of the island's groundwater basins is depicted. This publication is available and uncontested.

Equally uncontested is the observation by the mayor and DIADEYAK regarding the condition of the boreholes. What connects these two seemingly opposing observations are the meetings held by the staff of DIADEYAK's with the Decentralised Water Authority in 2021 and 2022, to further refine the planning in order to avoid unpleasant surprises, since the broad, long-term perspective of the Management Plans is of a different scale than local realities.

It was then that the proposal was made to drill deeper boreholes in areas where there was fear they might dry up, and for these to be kept as 'backup' in case of drought. Whether this plan was followed through can be seen from this year's surprise and the extent of the problem in certain areas. The fact that the change in leadership in municipal affairs and DIADEYAK also played a role in this is another question.

GIORGOS KATSAITIS