Arid Athens turns to ancient aqueduct amid climate crisis February 15, 2025
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- Feb 14, 2025
- 3 min read
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Arid Athens turns to ancient aqueduct amid climate crisis
Hélène COLLIOPOULOU
Between parked cars on a street in suburban Athens, workers repair a pump in an ancient stone well that, in turn, accesses an aqueduct built almost 2,000 years ago.
The Greek capital, one of the hottest and most densely populated cities in Europe, is trying hard - and deeply - to combat the high summer temperatures and poor infrastructure.
The authorities are using European Union money to help restore access to Hadrian's Aqueduct, a 24-kilometer underground canal named after the Roman emperor who financed its construction in the year 140.
It is hailed by experts as an “engineering marvel”.
Last year, the public utilities company Eydap repeatedly warned Athenians that they needed to save drinking water as reserves were dwindling.
Katerina Apostolopoulou of Eydap, who manages the project in the suburb of Chalandri, about 10 kilometers from the center of Athens, said that the water would not be of drinking quality and would instead be used “for cleaning or to irrigate parks and gardens” in the summer.
She pointed out that Athenians would normally need to use the drinking water network for their gardens and parks, so she hoped that the new pump would help save this valuable resource.
- War Shelter
The aqueduct, which begins at the foot of Mount Parnitha, is fed by an aquifer, explained geologist Yannis Dafnos.
A gentle slope of the mountain helps the water flow naturally into the city center.
The Chalandri well is more than 20 meters deep and is part of a network of 300 ancient wells, said Dafnos as he lifted the heavy iron cover.
George Sachinis, Eydap's director of strategy and innovation, called the aqueduct an “archaeological and engineering marvel”.
He urged planners to use it to create more green spaces in a city hit hard by the climate crisis.
“It's one of the most important ancient aqueducts in Europe,” he said.
The aqueduct helped supply the city for hundreds of years but fell into disuse after the Roman era.
The Athenians began to reuse it at the end of the 19th century, but it was abandoned again after two dams were built near the city.
During the Nazi occupation (1941-1944) and then in the Greek civil war that followed, one of Chalandri's wells, which is now dry, was used as a shelter, said Christos Giovanopoulos, who runs Cultural Hidrant, a heritage management project in the Chalandri municipality.
The restoration project is part of “promoting sustainable development in Athens”, he said, adding that water was often wasted.
- 'Collaboration with nature'
He said that the Chalandri project aims to promote green spaces and improve the microclimate by recycling water while highlighting the archaeological and cultural importance of the whole monument.
A few years ago, residents of Chalandri had to walk in zigzags to avoid the well, which at the time was located in the middle of the street, said Giovanopoulos.
Now, the northern Athens suburb will be the first of the Athens region's eight municipalities to benefit from the reuse of the aqueduct's water.
An adjacent dry well has been equipped with a ladder to allow visitors to climb down and see parts of the old conduit.
The aqueduct eventually reaches the center of Athens, at the foot of Mount Lycabettus, which was once the site of a Roman reservoir.
Only a few parts of the original construction of the reservoir remain. The existing structure with stone columns and arches is largely a 19th-century reconstruction.
At the bottom, in the old canal, “some parts of the roof built by the Romans remain to prevent stones from falling into the aqueduct,” said Sachinis.
“It's an elegant infrastructure that respects and collaborates perfectly with nature,” he said.
“Thanks to this aqueduct, there are plans to create more green space around the original reservoir,” he added.
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