Epirus Regional Authority fined €181,000 for environmental damage in Louros River
The Epirus Regional Authority has been fined €181,000 for destructive environmental interventions in the Louros River in northwestern Greece.
The works in the riverbed took place in November 2022. Following complaints from the Municipality of Dodoni, the area was inspected by teams from state environmental inspectors and the Epirus branch of the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (OFYPEKA). The works, which interrupted the flow of the river for 8 kilometers, caused serious environmental degradation in a section of the river that is the only habitat of an endemic trout species, Salmo lurosensis, protected by Greek and EU legislation.
Furthermore, the works were carried out without environmental licensing, with the Epirus Regional Authority, which funded and commissioned them, claiming that no permit was required since the area had been declared in a state of emergency.
“Flood protection and regulation works in parts of the Louros riverbed were carried out in a way that resulted in the complete alteration of the natural cross-section of the riverbed at the intervention points, the temporary interruption of water flow in an 8 km section of the river, leading to the complete disappearance of biodiversity, especially the loss of habitats of aquatic vegetation, fauna, and fish populations in that section, constituting environmental degradation,” inspectors said.
