Sawt Falasteen - Floodworks on Athens 'oasis' a tough sell among locals

Picking up plastic bottles and rusted debris, the 59-year-old electrical engineer says the "oasis", known as Kifissos by locals, is the last natural stretch of the Kifissos river that cuts through west Athens.

But locals fear for the idyllic body of water's future due to central and regional government plans to introduce flood prevention bulwarks in the area.

The strategy will entail shoring up the stream's banks with gabions -- wire-mesh cages filled with stone -- and pouring concrete over a small section of the river.

Already in practice on stretches of the Kifissos and other rivers in Greece, some experts contest the technique over the risk of narrowing riverbeds and land subsidence.

"Gabions… are natural materials used around the world and considered environmentally friendly," Nikos Tachiaos, Greece's deputy infrastructure minister, told AFP at his office.

- Flooding is the 'biggest problem' -

Named after an ancient Greek river god, the 27-kilometer (17-mile) Kifissos river has snaked through the western suburbs of Athens since time immemorial.

But it underwent enormous change in the 20th century, with much of it buried to make way for a highway, residential areas and industrial zones during a frenzied urbanisation drive.

Most of Athens' natural waterways met the same fate, vastly diminishing cool and green areas that would help shield the capital from heatwaves.

However, Greece's current government views the risk of flooding as the capital's "biggest problem", according to Tachiaos.

"What is now seen as an oasis could, during severe floods, turn into a catastrophe," the minister said.

He defended the works as necessary to prevent "violent (natural) events in the context of climate change" such as Storm Daniel -- a Mediterranean cyclone of unprecedented intensity that in 2023 unleashed one month's worth of rain in just a few hours.

- Legal action -

Chryssanthi Georgiou, president of a river preservation association called Roi ("flow" in Greek), counters that the project will lead to "the cutting down of century-old trees and the destruction of flora and fauna".

Nea Filadelfia residents and neighbouring municipalities have taken legal action in an attempt to stop the project.

The Council of State, Greece's highest administrative court, recently scrapped a similar project in Vravrona, east of Athens, over its detrimental environmental impact.

There are similar fears further south in Faliro over its own stream, Pikrodafni.

Constantinos Loupasakis, a geotechnical engineering professor who lives in the area, said reinforced concrete can bring "short-term" benefits but also lets valuable water wash away to the sea.

In Nea Filadelfia, the Kifissos stream helps keep local temperatures around 4C lower than the rest of the city, Roi's Georgiou said.

"Our goal should be to make the most of our natural resources," she added, "especially now with the risk of water shortages" plaguing the Greek metropolis.

Last month, authorities placed greater Athens under a state of water emergency.

The measure is intended to speed up infrastructure works in the face of the prolonged regional drought, which has caused the capital's reservoirs to drop significantly.

According to the Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company (EYDAP), annual rainfall in Greece has decreased by about 25 percent, evaporation has increased by 15 percent and consumption has risen by about 6 percent since 2022.

"Compromises have to be made on both sides to find a balance between natural beauty and functionality," Tachiaos said.

E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST