Portugal Colonial - Lakes drying up leave Greeks in despair

Where once fishermen pulled trout and tench into their boats, youths on motorbikes now joyride in the dust.

Locals say they can see the 42-square-kilometre (16-square-mile) expanse of water near Thessaloniki retreating day by day -- a fate shared by three other important natural lakes in Greece's Central Macedonian breadbasket.

"The stench from the lake is getting very bad. If we don't get enough snow and rain, the problem will get worse next year," said local community leader Kostas Hadzivoulgaridis.

"We need (officials) to take immediate action to protect the lake," the 50-year-old told AFP.

Water levels at three other natural lakes in the region -- Doirani, Volvi and Pikrolimni -- are also at their lowest in a decade, according to data last month from the Greek Biotope Wetland Centre.

Over the last two years, rainfall in the region has been "very low" and the temperatures recorded this year were the highest in the last decade, according to Irini Varsami, a local hydrologist.

As well as losing water directly through evaporation, the lake is being drained by the "increasing irrigation needs of (farmers in) the surrounding area", one of the important food-producing plains in the country.

- 'We hope for rain' -

While the shores look like a lunar landscape bereft of life, flocks of migratory pink flamingos graze in the low water further in.

Anthi Vafiadou, a regional supervisor for the Greek state environmental protection agency, said it was "too early" to draw conclusions on the impact of the drought on the lake's biodiversity.

"We must see how the winter season evolves. We hope there will be more rain," she told AFP.

But what is certain, according to the Biotope Wetland Centre, is that climate change is putting huge pressure on the lakes.

According to the national observatory, Greece had the warmest winter and summer on record since reliable data collection began in 1960.

Greece's environment ministry this week unveiled a multi-billion-euro plan to boost the water supply and limit rampant water loss through poor management.

- 'Completely disappeared' -

Less than an hour's drive to the north is a bleak vision of what the future might hold.

Pikrolimni, or "Bitter Lake", is the only salt lake in mainland Greece.

But Pikrolimni is a lake in name only now. All that remains are the patterns formed by the water that evaporated during the prolonged drought.

Hotels and a mud spa around its edge lie abandoned.

"This is the first summer that the lake has been in such a state. There has been no rain, the water has completely disappeared and the lake has literally dried up," said Argyris Vergis, an 80-year-old local.

"This area used to be busy with tourists, but now you can see motorcyclists racing on the lake on the internet. It's tragic," the retired bank worker said.

A.Seabra--PC