Supreme Court calls for "vigilance" in relation to those who "uses water illegally"

The prosecutor of the Supreme Council of State of Greece (Supreme Court), Geogia Adilini, issued a circular warning about the water shortage issue, asking her colleagues to be vigilant and to initiate the necessary criminal proceedings, applying the law in case of violations.

In his appeal, the Supreme Prosecutor describes criminal activities related to illegal drilling, as well as uncontrolled water extraction from legal wells. According to the prosecutor, “illegal drilling and uncontrolled extraction of water from legal wells without respecting any upper limit (ceiling) on ​​the amount to which the legitimate beneficiaries are entitled constitute, among other things, criminal acts.”

According to the circular, the Supreme Court prosecutor notes that “in order to avoid, even exaggeratedly, that “In our country, water is thrown to the wind”it is necessary, in addition to the obvious vigilance of the competent authorities, to strengthen controls in all areas, i.e. drilling companies, farmers, hotels and all other types of businesses, as well as the assistance of the prosecutor's office throughout the country, in order to ensure, within the framework of responsibilities, the most rational, as far as possible, management of water resources throughout the country.

“The consequences of the reduction of water resources are very serious”

In his thematic circular, the Supreme Court prosecutor sets out in detail the following: “One of the most serious problems facing our country as a result of the environmental crisis on a global scale is the reduction of water resources, in contrast to the ever-growing demand, especially in the island regions of the territory, caused mainly, but not only, by tourism.
The consequences of the reduction of water resources are already serious, and many areas of the country are already in an alarming situation or may be in an alarming situation, and relevant government departments are considering measures to address the problem of water shortage in the near future, especially if the amount of rain and snowfall continues to decrease.
According to experts, this problem is exacerbated by the irrational use of water, which often takes the form of misuse for both water supply and irrigation.
Illegal wells and uncontrolled water extraction from legal wells make a significant contribution to the irrational use of water, with the upper limit (ceiling) of the amount of water to which legal beneficiaries are entitled being many times greater than the number of legal wells.
It is also questionable whether, in the case of legal drilling, and how it is ensured that the determination of the amount received by each beneficiary in any case covers the real needs of the area on which the drilling takes place, and not those that he himself creates through false or misleading information, for example, virtual leases of neighboring areas or in the context of professional cultivation that goes beyond the area on which the drilling takes place.
At the same time, the freshwater aquifer in many areas is constantly shrinking and actually collapsing as it is flooded by the influx of salt water..

Strengthening control in all areas

So that no one can say, even exaggeratingly, that “in our country we throw water to the wind,” it is necessary, in addition to the obvious vigilance of the competent authorities, to strengthen control in all areas, namely: the drilling of wells by industrialists, farmers, hotels and all kinds of other enterprises, as well as the assistance of the prosecutor's office throughout the country, in order to ensure, to the extent of our responsibilities, the most rational, as far as possible, management of water resources throughout the country.

In particular, illegal drilling, as well as the uncontrolled extraction of water from legal drilling without observing any upper limit (ceiling) on ​​the amount to which the legal beneficiaries are entitled, constitute, among other things, criminal acts, since they fall under Article 28 of Law No. 1650/1986 on Environmental Protection, as amended, in conjunction with Law No. 4014/2011 on Environmental Licensing. 4014/2011 on Environmental Licensing of Projects and Activities, etc. and KYA 146896/2014 (Government Gazette 2878 / B' /27.10.2014 “Categories of licences for the use and implementation of water management projects. The procedure and conditions for issuing permits, their content and validity period and other related provisions”), with corrections (B„ 3142/21.11.2014), additions (B“ 1435 / 10.7.2015, B„ 69 / 22.1.2016, B“ 814 / 14.3.2017, B7 1562/24.4.2020) and in force”.

Requests for intervention

“In view of the above, you must intervene dynamically by implementing the law with the assistance of the competent authorities for the control of illegal drilling (Decentralized Administrations, OTA first and second degree, as well as ELA – see the relevant circular AΠ οικ 102135/10.12.2015 of the Ministry of Environment and Energy – Special Secretariat for Water – “Clarifications on the responsibilities of municipalities and regions with regard to monitoring the conditions of water use permits and violations of the provisions of KYA 146896/2014”), from which you must ask them to send you, when they discover the above violations, reports on their discovery (see Article 12 of the aforementioned Code of Administrative Offences), for your assessment and the implementation of the appropriate criminal prosecution in each case.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that unauthorized interference by private individuals in the water supply and irrigation networks of local authorities, in particular theft of water, which results in the deprivation of water to its legitimate users for the satisfaction of their basic needs, such as water supply and sanitation, as well as possibly damaging these networks and, in general, obstructing or disrupting the supply of water to the population (Articles 372(1), 378(2), 293 of the Civil Code, etc.), should also be prosecuted by law.

The above-mentioned application of the law, with the assistance of the competent authorities, is considered absolutely necessary in order to ensure, as far as possible, the most rational management of water resources on Greek territory”.

https://rua.gr/news/bissecon/59441-mitsotakis-vnov-pytaetsya-prodat-eudap.html

The opposition has already spoken out regarding the above measures, stating that all this is being done to give legitimacy to the illegal privatization water resources.

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