Greece seeks water supply from Albania’s Bistrica River

July 2 -An informal request was made by the Greek government for the construction of a water pipeline traveling through southern Albania to supply water to the island of Corfu, Albanian news agencies have reported. Corfu, which is considered the major tourism resort in Greece, suffers from a chronic absence of potable water, though the Bistrica River sits only a few kilometers to the north and has an average water flow of 40 cubic meters per second. In 2001, officials from the Italian province of Puglia, (Apulia) also expressed interested in building a water pipeline to resolve their own acute water shortages. Meanwhile, in recent years the Greek government has carried out several humanitarian projects in the villages near Bistrica River, aimed at creating the primary infrastructure, including the water supply infrastructure for diverting drinking water. In a comment about this, Daily ABC in Tirana reported on the 24th of March, that such humanitarian projects were only preliminary work for the water pipeline to Corfu, which does not require Albanian government approval. Some declarations made by MP’s of the Nea Democratia, the right-wing ruling party in Greece, also refer to these projects. Greece will be holding general elections next year and such declarations for new water supplies have become campaign issues.