Giannis Theodorakopoulos, General Director of the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Lamia, referred to a phenomenon we were not aware of during his remarks in the 3rd thematic session of the Thermopylae Forum, “Water: The Great Challenge of Tomorrow.”

February 2023. The powerful earthquake that struck Turkey affected even the turbidity of the water in Gorgopotamos, many kilometres away. The turbidity meters of the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Lamia immediately recorded the change. Through a remote decision, the electric valve was activated and the entry of cloudy water into the water supply system was prevented. The city did not even realise what had happened.

As Mr. Theodorakopoulos stated, the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Lamia has built resilience systems and a series of development-oriented solutions in recent years, enabling it to address challenges before they become crises. Since 2000, the company has invested not only in conventional sewerage and water supply networks, but also in information technologies, through which it now manages the entire network of the city of Lamia and the 44 settlements under its responsibility.

“These tools enable us to manage the system remotely, gain insight into the behaviour of our systems and record the operation of the network,” he stressed. The Gorgopotamos incident was the most eloquent test of this investment — a quiet success that became noticeable only because it had no impact on citizens.

With the same approach, the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Lamia also turned the pressure caused by water scarcity in the agricultural sector into an opportunity.

Since 2024, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, it has become the first facility in Greece to channel its entire daily supply of reclaimed water for crop irrigation, including edible products. This is a pilot effort of national scope: the conclusions drawn will be used for the whole country and will help shape the framework for similar interventions in other Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Companies.

“Water management requires a balance between scientific and technical knowledge, economic sustainability, investments and pricing policies, as well as public responsibility towards local communities and future generations,” Mr. Theodorakopoulos underlined.

In this context, he focused on the need for a balanced pricing policy towards citizens, one that combines the company’s sustainability with fairness towards households, as well as on the water supply master plan prepared by the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Lamia as a central planning tool for the coming years.

From the earthquake in Turkey to the nationwide first in the use of reclaimed water, the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Lamia demonstrates in practice that, for it, every problem can become an opportunity to develop even smarter systems — and that the city and the wider region have by their side an organisation that is paving the way for the entire country.

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