Messara river basin hub

At a glance

650 mm

annual rainfall
45,000

inhabitants
29,108

cultivated hectares
1,400

groundwater wells
63 million m³ / year

groundwater abstraction

Water users:

Natural water resources’ availability, both groundwater and surface water, is decreasing
Groundwater resources are mostly threatened by over-abstraction, with some groundwater bodies being already in poor chemical and quantitative state and with up to 45 m drop-down in the groundwater levels
Changing precipitation and evapotranspiration patterns drive changes in the springs’ outflows , environmental flows, and in the crop water needs, leading to increased water demands which cannot be met by the current water supply and infrastructure
Drought and water scarcity risk are increasing, and thus water users’ conflicts may be exacerbated, posing the need for robust water allocation schemes
Seawater intrusion at the southern end, soil degradation and salinization

Main challenges exacerbated by climate change:

COMPASS aims to develop a harmonised, yet flexible, methodological framework for climate and impact attribution of various complex extremes that includes compound, sequences and cascading hazard events

The COMPASS project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101135481

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.