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The Interplay Between the Alfeios (Greece) River Basin Components and the Exerted Environmental Stresses: a Critical Review

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Abstract

The characteristics (natural, socioeconomic and administrative/institutional) of Alfeios River basin, in Greece, are identified and presented, incorporating and critically reviewing all possibly found literature. The Alfeios River is a water resources system of great natural, ecological, social and economic importance for Western Greece, since it has the longest and highest flow rate watercourse in the Peloponnisos region. Moreover, the river basin was exposed in the last decades to a plethora of environmental stresses (such as hydrogeological alterations, intensively irrigated agriculture, surface and groundwater overexploitation and infrastructure developments), resulting in the degradation of its quantitative and qualitative characteristics. It is therefore necessary for the development of an integrated river basin management plan for this basin, to study and analyse the interplay between the river components and the exerted environmental stresses, taking into account the puzzle of various and conflicting water uses, including water supply, irrigation, hydropower generation, lignite thermal power production and recreation. Mitigative, preventive and control measures for the analysed environmental stresses are epigrammatically depicted. Focusing on the problematic features, the present work provides a concrete foundation for the determination and conceptualisation of management objectives and possible sustainable alternatives.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework-Research Funding Program: Heracleitus II. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund.

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  1. Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, 265 04, Patras, Greece

    Eleni S. Bekri & Panayotis C. Yannopoulos

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Bekri, E.S., Yannopoulos, P.C. The Interplay Between the Alfeios (Greece) River Basin Components and the Exerted Environmental Stresses: a Critical Review. Water Air Soil Pollut 223, 3783–3806 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-012-1148-y

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