Your water bills are rising. Why?

Last week, we mapped the problem: empty reservoirs, leaky pipes, and thirsty farms.

This week, the €2.5b question: can Greece actually execute its way out of this crisis?

Since 2019, Greece has completed ~270 of ~1,300 identified water projects (€356M spent). That's a ~20% completion rate in 6 years.

Now, with the National Water Strategy announced in Oct 2025, they're promising €2.5b investment over the next 30 years. The track record? Not great. The ambition? Unprecedented.

Here's a breakdown of some of the major plans Energy & Environment Minister Stavros Papastavrou has approved, what it means for you, and, crucially, what is missing.

The consolidation

Greece has 750+ tiny water utilities (mostly municipal). The plan? Merge them into 3 major entities:

1. EYDAP (Athens) → expands to cover Attica + irrigation

2. EYATH (Thessaloniki) → expands regionally

3. New entity → manages the rest of Greece

Why it matters: right now, municipalities can't afford smart tech or leak detection. Consolidation = economies of scale & coordinated rollouts.

The "Evrytos" mega-project (Attica)

• What: partially diverting two rivers (Krikeliotis + Karpenisiotis) into the Evinos reservoir to supply Athens for many years to come

• Investment: €500M. Operational mid-2029.

• Why it matters: it's the cheapest operational water Athens will ever get (gravity = zero energy cost forever)

• What this means for you: water bills just went up 12–20% as of Jan 2026. BUT: from 2029, you get >30 years of affordable, secure water

Plugging the leaks

EYDAP is attacking its 23% leak rate head-on with:

• €400M allocated to replace aging pipes.

• €350M for "smart grid" transformation: AI leak detection, real-time monitoring.

• 2.5M smart water meters to be installed over 10 years (250K/year).

• The goal: drop from 23% → 10% by 2029 (vs. EU optimal <15%)

• What this means for you: long-term price stability (no need for expensive emergency measures) + fewer service disruptions

EYATH (Thessaloniki) is following their lead, with various measures, including smart water meter rollouts, starting Jan 2026!

The missing piece: while Athens and Thessaloniki tackle their ~23% leak rates, the national average sits at 2x theirs (~50%). The consolidation plan promises to merge 750 utilities into 3 entities, but the roadmap for upgrading the other 700+ networks? Unclear.

The 85% problem

Agriculture uses 85% of Greece's water. Yet the reforms here are the weakest. Greece is betting on EU subsidies (€260M available via CAP), but adoption is stuck at <20%.

Greece is heavily reliant on EU subsidies for agricultural projects (69% of Greece's agricultural support budget), which appear to be largely failing in respect of water:

• EU CAP: €260M of EU subsidies exist for smart irrigation systems on Greek farms.

• The problem: adoption remains <20% due to complexity, cost and distrust.

• Pilot successes: those that have adopted smart irrigation via CAP have proven it works, some cutting water use by 7–10% while increasing yields by 5%.

Borehole registration

One action the government is instituting is the creation of a National Register of Water Abstraction Points to track the estimated 300K+ boreholes (many illegal). But after decades of unregulated pumping, creating a registry is the easy part. Enforcement? That's where this will collapse.

What's more, agricultural water is still heavily subsidised: farmers pay €0.01–€0.05/m³ (or zero via illegal boreholes) vs. urban €1–2/m³. We need stricter price reforms to reflect the true cost of water, not to squeeze farmers' already razor-thin margins, but to incentivise better water management practices.

The islands

• What: 103 water projects across 61 island municipalities.

• Investment: €9M (2025 Special Drought Plan) + €20M emergency funding.

• Tech: fast-tracked licensing for 35 new desalination units on 27+ islands.

• Why it matters: islands like Kastellorizo, Kimolos, and Gavdos won't need water ships anymore.

• What this means for you: no more €10–12/m³ water tankers (finally!). BUT: desalination = higher electricity costs unless Greece pairs these with renewable energy (which the plan doesn't mandate).

Since 2019, 400+ island water projects have been funded (total: €60M+); 100+ in 2025 alone.

What's missing from the strategy?

1. Water quality: focuses heavily on quantity, not quality. Saltwater intrusion & nitrate pollution = largely ignored.

2. "The new entity": unclear mandate to fix leaky pipes outside of Athens/Thessaloniki.

3. Renewable power for desalination: no mandate to pair island desal with solar/wind.

4. Agricultural water pricing reform: farmers still pay €0.01/m³. No plan to change this.

5. Enforcement mechanism: borehole registry = great. But who's checking? What's the penalty?

Final thoughts

This is Greece's most ambitious water plan... ever. But ambition ≠ execution.

My take? The Evrytos project, the island desalination push, and the smart meter rollout are all well-planned, no-brainers & long overdue.

But the agricultural transformation is where this plan will live or die. You can't save Greece's water without changing how 85% of it is used.

Next week: the startups and tech solving what policy can't.