Field Study 4: Ithaka
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2017-09-13 WATER SAVING CHALLENGE Field Study 4: Ithaka Figure 1. View from Odysseus’ home towards Afales Bay on Northern Ithaka 1 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE Christian Pleijel [email protected] Tel +358-457-342 88 25 2017-09-13 Content 1 Summary 2 2 Introduction 3 The assignment The client Study objects The three levels of an island Methodology 3 The water of the island 6 Location Geology Hydrology and climate Vegetation 4 The water of the islanders 9 Human pressure Virtual distance Water consumption 5 The water of the community 14 Governance Water procurement Wastewater Water quality Cost and taxes Future plans 6 Water saving 22 Benchmark #1 Benchmark #2 Benchmark #3 7 References 24 2 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE Christian Pleijel [email protected] Tel +358-457-342 88 25 FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA 1 Summary Ithaka is a 96 km2 island with a resident population of 3,100. Technically speaking, recal- culating the impact of summer residents and visitors, the human pressure on the island is equivalent to 6,182 all-year inhabitants. The demand for water can be estimated to 247 million litres/year, of which is seems the islanders use of rainwater meets one third of the demand. The municipality really has some creative ways to save water, mainly a brilliant back- wards billing system and a flat rate policy for green hotels (well defined). The islanders are a role model for any island on how to save and use rainwater in their households. From a water saving point of view, Ithaka should continue seaking for leaks and change some of the older ACC mains (Vathi), and get more hotels to become green. 3 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA 2 Introduction 2.1 The assignment The Ithaka study is part of an assignment to search for, find, describe and share good ex- amples of water saving practices on eight European islands, islands who do not solve wa- ter scarcity just by bringing more water through pipelines, desalination plants and tank- ers, but are making efforts to save water. The project is looking for best practices within four areas of water saving actions: 1 Training: Information, good examples, schooling, campaigns, understanding that water has different qualities which can be used for different purposes. 2 Engineering: Technologies for reducing water consumption in households (water taps, showerheads, toilet sinks etc), for reducing leakages in mains and pipes, for more effi- cient desalination/reverse osmosis processes, treatment of wastewater etc. 3 Billing: Differentiated pricing of (municipal) water that lead to water saving. 4 Cutting: Switching off the (municipal) water: mostly for shorter periods of time. Obstacles to save water can be found in governance (water saving is not a political issue), regulations, cost, taxes and financial obstacles (the water company does not earn money by saving water), no ‘sense of urgency’, sustainability indicators are underdeveloped or inexistent, management (saving is not an objective), human behaviour, business threats (water saving might ruin the visitors’ experiences and damage the island’s brand), tech- nology and over-capacity (the island has a system which procures more water than the island needs, even in peaks). 2.2 The client The assignment has been given to the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm by MEP Tonino Picula from Croatia, the Hellenic Small Islands Network, l'Association des îles du Ponant, the Irish Islands Federation/Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann and ESIN – the European Small Islands Federation.. 2.3 Study objects Eight islands are included in the project: Tilos and Ithaca in Greece, Lastovo and Vis in Croatia, Sein and Houat in France, Inisheer and Cape Clear in Ireland. 4 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE FEL! DET GÅR INRTE ATT HITTA NÅGON REFERENSKÄLLA. FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA Figure 2. The eight islands in the study They have been chosen because (a) they all have a scarcity of freshwater, (b) they represent different sizes, seas, hydrogeology, climate, size of population and re- moteness, (c) they have what seems to be interesting solutions for saving water, and (d) they have been in previous contact with us which makes it easy to obtain true data within a limited time and budget. 2.4 The three levels of an island To understand the freshwater situation of an island, the whole island must be observed (not just the technologies). We describe three interlinked levels: a The water of the island This is the basic geophysical system level which encompasses the physical geo- graphical conditions on the island no matter if people live there or not: geology, oceans, skies, hydrology, meteorology, flora and fauna – the physical landscape. b The water of the islanders At the next level, humans move in and make their human footprints: they build houses and villages, till the soil and water, eat, drink, walk, arrange their social life with children, schools, elderly care, health care and security – the cultural landscape. 5 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA c The water of the community At the top level, the humans build a common infrastructure of roads, water, sewer, telephone, broadband, fossil and renewable energy sources, ports and ships. Water is produced, distributed, managed, financed and administrated – the technical landscape. 2.5 Methodology Data about the islands has been collected through desktop research and field studies, dur- ing which we made make semi-structured interviews with politicians, technicians and citizens, investigated technical installations, took part of documents, plans, studies, maps and earlier research. This field study on Ithaka was undertaken by Christian Pleijel and Eleni Palaiolougka from CRES on the 24th, 25th and 26th of May, 2017, under supervision of professor Anders Nordström from the Univerity of Stockholm and professor Sara Borgström at KTH. We are most thankful to the technical director Mr Vasilis Simiris and the mayor of Ithaka Dionios Stanitsas for their time and efforts to answer our questions and guide us around the is- land. Figure 3. Dionios Stanitsas Figure 4. Vasilis Simiris 6 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE FEL! DET GÅR INRTE ATT HITTA NÅGON REFERENSKÄLLA. FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA 3 The water of the island 3.1 Location Ithaka or Ithaca (/ˈɪθəkə/; Greek: Ιθάκη, Ithakē [iˈθaci]) is a Greek island located in the Ionian Sea, east of the northeast coast of Kefalonia, from which it is separated by the Strait of Ithaca. The island is about 96 km2 square kilometres, stretched in the north-south direction, in length of 23 km and maximum width of 6 km. It consists of two parts, of about equal size, connected by the narrow isthmus of Aetos (Eagle), just 600 metres wide. The two parts enclose the bay of Molos. Figure 5. Sea chart, Ithaca The capes in the island include Exogi, the westernmost, Melissa to the north, Mavronos, Agios Ilias, Schinous, Sarakiniko and Agios Ioannis, to the east, and Agiou Andreou, to the south. Bays include Afales Bay to the northwest, Frikes and Kioni Bays to the northeast, Molos Gulf to the east, and Ormos Gulf and Sarakiniko Bay to the southeast. The tallest mountain is Nirito in the northern part (806 m), followed by Merovigli (669 m) in the south. 7 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA 3.2 Geology Ithaka largely consists of a series of folded Jurassic to Eocene limestones. The Western side is arid and steep, the Eastern side green and accessible. As on Kefalonia, the domi- nance of limestone has led to a lack of surface water. Figure 6. Geology of the Ionian Islands, Higgins & Higgins (1996) 3.3 Hydrology and climate The Ionian islands had 1961-90 an average yearly rainfall of 950 mm (three times the av- erage rainfall of the Aegean). They are mountainous and by far the greenest and most fer- tile of the Greek islands. mild Mediterranean climate with sunny and dry summers, mild and rainy winter. Extended periods of sunshine throughout the year. It rains mainly on the eastern part of the island, as the west side is in "rainshadow" of Kefalonia. The winter precipitation is large, about 600-700 mm and allows for a large groundwater formation in the eastern part of the island. However, the limestone mountain offers limited groundwater magazines. Most of the water flows relatively quickly to the sea 8 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE FEL! DET GÅR INRTE ATT HITTA NÅGON REFERENSKÄLLA. FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA unless sealing bedrock layers are varied with limestone. The withdrawal opportunities may be average in some places for these reasons. The groundwater area is rather low even though large parts of the island's land surface are much above sea level. This causes problems with groundwater outlets in wells, as the outlets further lower groundwater and thus increases the risk of water becoming salty. 3.4 Vegetation Ithaca is basically two woodland mountain ridges rich in flora and fauna. The lack of sur- face water coupled with the scarcity of flat land has made the island agriculturally very unproductive. 9 (25) WATER SAVING CHALLENGE FIELD STUDY: ITHAKA 4 The water of the islanders The 3,100 resident inhabitants live in seven villages on Ithaka. Vathy is the capital and largest settlement of the island (pop. 1,920 in 2011) followed by Stavros (366), Perachori (343), Platreithias (201), and Kioni (182). 4.1 Human pressure Ithaka has 3,100 all-year inhabitants. In summer (about 10 weeks), the population three- doubles to more than 9,000. There are 10,000 tourists on the island during 45 peak days in July and August. The human pressure on the islands' infrastructure including freshwater, energy distribu- tion, sewage and waste recuperation and treatment, roads, ports, telephones, internet, transports, postal services, healthcare and fire brigade, can be calculated as follows: Residents 365 days 3,100 1,131,500 man-days Summer residents 90 days 6,000 540,000 man-days Visitors peak season 45 days 10,000 450,000 man-days Visitors April—Sept exkl.