What are the key water challenges facing us in the third decade of the 21st century? What is the role of technology in addressing them? Is technology enough, or do we also need to change the paradigm by educating managers, as well as the next generation? A new documentary on Greece’s Ant1 TV station features GWP-Med Chair, Professor Michael Scoullos, who discusses the challenges of water scarcity for Mediterranean countries, and analyses the main solutions available. While GWP-Med Senior Programme Officer, Charalampos Lappas explains the technical interventions of the Zero Drop Heraklion project, implemented in July 2023.
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The Zero Drop Heraklion project was implemented in the island of Crete and addressed urgent problems in two local agricultural communities, Profitis Ilias and Voutes. More than 2,500 farmers were facing frequent outages, being forced to withdraw water from the aquifer, at great environmental and economic cost, or face the destruction of their production. In Profitis Ilias in particular, the Zero Drop program intervention ensured that farmers get a stable supply of treated wastewater for use in their crops, exploiting an alternative water source which relieves intense pressures to the water table and ecosystems.