Study site description: Nestos River Delta, Maggana, Greece

Table of Contents

1. Responsible partner
2. General information
3. Bio-physical description
   1. Land use
   2. Climate
   3. Geology
   4. Hydrogeology
   5. Water resources
   6. Soil salinization
4. Socio-economic description
5. Institutional and political setting
6. Relevant end-users / stakeholder groups
7. Past and on-going projects

Water resources

The construction of drainage works within the Nestos delta, during the 1950s (see Figure 4), have resulted in a considerable increase of the cultivated and irrigated land. However, the natural recharge of the phreatic aquifers was dramatically decreased and the wetlands, located in the coastal region of the study site, gradually vanished. In the northern part of the east Nestos delta (region of Thalassia-Kremasti), a freshwater transportation network (concrete ditches and canals) has been constructed which supplies an area of 31.000km². This part of the delta was significantly developed, including the reformation of crop cultivation, the import and the extension of new plant types of high income and the growth of livestock-farming. In the study site area irrigation is mainly accomplished by groundwater sources and over 2.500 wells have been recorded. Continuous (over-)pumping for irrigation purposes resulted in seawater intrusion, thus groundwater quality was significantly deteriorated. The salinity levels of the phreatic aquifers in the study site region vary from 2000 to more than 8000 µS/cm (Table 1). Laspias stream is located across the eastern side of the study site area and water is transported for irrigation purposes in adjacent fields.

Table 1. Groundwater level and electrical conductivity in the study site area.