Water

There is plenty of water on Crete and the water that comes out of the taps where we are is to EEC standard and is probably of better then the water coming out of your tap in England (well it has gone through less kidneys since it was part of a cloud).

The drinking water comes from up in the mountains where it is stored from snowmelt. We have drunk it from the tap for six years with only the side effects that come from drinking soft water after being used to hard.

The trouble is that there is not enough drinking water to go around during the summer. This is because infrastructure has not kept up with demand- or, there are to many incomers and they will keep using drinking water to irrigate their gardens and fill their swimming pools.

Domestic water is relatively cheap, but metered. It is tied in to local government and the village President is supposed to deliver your bills, but they usually end up in a local shop waiting to be collected.

Water bills are paid in Vamos, the office moves about but has been in different parts of the town hall for the past 3-4 years.

In Gavalahori there are two reservoirs The main one, that gets priority, mostly feeds the older houses in the village. The smaller, newer one, which fills after the other one is full, was put in for the newer houses. Translation, the locals get a better supply of water than the incomers.

Matters got so bad that some of the more influential incomers had themselves transferred to the main tank, but sometimes that fails and, of course, it does so even more now.

To help out this problem each house is supposed to have its own reserve tank, though we know of some houses that do not. There is usually water available sometime in the night, often enough to fill the reserve tank. Used carefully this is enough to get you through the day, albeit at low pressure.

Explosive Water- When your water is cut off and the pipes are drained, air gets in. Reconnect the water and the air is compressed. The result is explosive! Usually the only problem is noise and splashing but it can knock a glass out of your hand.

There is another source of water, agricultural water. This is pumped up straight from the river and delivered to farmers; mostly. This comes from a different company in Kelivas called OAΔYK. It's in a semi ruined building (I kid you not) on the Varises road.

Somehow Elaine managed to organize agricultural water for our six houses. We buy through one meter and then resell to each each house through their own meter.

This water is okay for swimming pools- when treated- okay for watering the plants and, if the devil drives, can be used for showering. As the black plastic pipe in which it is flows is laid on top of the ground, the water can be warmer than the stuff out of the immersion heater. You just have to be prepared to shower in your front garden.

POSITION We are not as badly hit by the water shortages as people further up the hill. What drinking water there is tends to trickle down to us, especially at night, and the low pressure agricultural water still reaches us in the summer.