Greek Hydropower production and the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive: potentially conflicting interests and sustainable governance of river basins .

Abstract

Hydropower-based electricity production provides approximately 23% of renewable energy in Greece-an activity, however, associated with adverse environmental effects on watercourses. Therefore, it should be considered as a key factor of water management programs ensuring safety and optimising environmental performance of hydropower facilities in accordance to Greece's obligations towards European Union (EU) water policy. Water Framework Directive (WFD) was created by the EU in order to help member states to protect and improve the status of water bodies and was incorporated in Greek legislation by Law 3199/2003. Within the scope of this study, we assessed 1. both Hydroelectric power generation and Water Resources Management in Greece and we recorded the 2. current status of the EU Water Framework Directive implementation in this field. Given that social-ecological systems emphasise the link between people and the ecosphere, we investigated possible 3. conflicts that arise between hydropower-related renewable electricity production and water courses conservation, according to both national and EU legislation. 4. We also studied the tools that WFD provides in order to solve potential problems, maintain economic viability and ensure good ecological status between hydropower utilisation and water protection in the face of increased demands to a more effective and sustainable management of environmental resources.

Ecological flow in southern Europe: Status and trends in non-perennial rivers

“…For large dams, some studies related to E-Flows have been developed, for example for the Gadouras dam for which E-Flows have been defined and applied, but neither an overall plan nor a guideline for practical applications have been defined (Stoumboudi et al, 2019). The National Law 3199/2003 is the first attempt to transpose the WFD into Greek legislation (Farmaki and Tranoulidis, 2020). The HL_Ms are the most used methods, where the minimum acceptable E-Flow regimes are based on the recorded flows (Papadaki et al, 2014).…”