Greece’s Epiphany events marking Christ’s baptism highlight concerns about water scarcity

MARATHON, Greece — As Orthodox Christians around the world attended Epiphany ceremonies on Tuesday to commemorate the baptism of Christ, worried officials in Greece used the moment to highlight growing water scarcity.

A priest cast a wooden cross into the visibly depleted waters of Lake Marathon, an artificial reservoir north of Athens. Water stored there and in the other three reservoirs supplying Athens has dropped from more than 1 billion cubic meters in 2022 to about 390 million cubic meters.