The Achelous, also Acheloos, is a river in western Greece. It formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia of antiquity. It empties into the Ionian Sea. In ancient times its spirit was venerated as the river god Achelous.
It’s the second longest river in Greece after Aliakmonas with the highest discharge among rivers of Greece. Its sources are located on the mountain Lakmos, near the town of Metsovo. The river generally flows from North to South, through the humid western part of continental Greece, and empties into the Ionian Sea having its river mouth opposite to Echinades islands, 29 km west of Missolonghi, after a course of 140 miles (220 km), mostly through gorges discharging a drainage basin of 4,860 km2.
Herodotus, taking notice of the shorelinetransforming power of the Achelous River, even compared it to the Nile in this respect: ÂŤThere are other rivers as well which, though not as large as the Nile, have had substantial results. In particular (although I could name others), there is the Achelous, which flows through Acarnania into the sea and has already turned half the Echinades islands into mainland.Âť
The river Achelous begins at about 2,000 metres altitude on the eastern slope of Lakmos mountain in the Pindus range, near the village Anthousa in the westernmost part of the Trikala regional unit. One of its first tributaries is the Aspropotamos, meaning the white river.
Up to date in Acheloos river four hydroelectric dams have been constructed to harvest the waters of the river and its tributaries.
The biggest one is at Kremasta (3.300 x 106 m3 ). It’s the highest (490 feet -150 metres) earth-fill dam in Europe, situated 3 km south-west of the junction of the rivers Tavropos, Agrafiotis and Acheloos. It is the first dam developed in the Acheloos drainage basin (1966), forming the largest and most beautiful artificial reservoir lake in Greece with a 81 Km2 area and a maximum capacity of 4.750.000.000 m3.
It prevents flooding of the Acheloos, and supplies electricity to the national grid during peaks of demand. At the foot of the dam is situated the most significant hydroelectric plant in Greece.
The power station at the dam is the biggest hydroelectric plant in Greece (rated power: 437.2 MW). It was constructed in 1966 and is owned by the Public Power Corporation of Greece (DEH A.E.). At the time of its construction, it was the largest earth-filled hydroelectric project in Europe with the heigth of 150 m.
The Kastraki (220 x 106 m3 ) is the second dam developed in Acheloos drainage basin (1969) and it is placed 35 km south of the Kremasta dam. The Stratos I (11 x 106 m3) and Stratos II dams were developed in 1989 and are situated 8 km south of the Kastraki dam and 62 km from the Acheloos mouth. The total power of the hydroelectric plants associated with these dams, comes up to 925,6 MW.
Finally the Mesochora Dam is part of the Acheloos River Diversion which is intended to divert a portion of the Acheloos west to irrigate 240,000–380,000 ha in the Thessaly heavily farmed plains. The project includes the Mesochora, Sykia, Mouzaki and Pyli Dams along with a 17.4 km long diversion tunnel.
The diversion scheme Since the 1930 there has been a plan to divert the river Achelous eastwards, through the southern Pindos mountain range, for irrigation to boost agricultural production of Thessaly heavily farmed plain. So the initial project was to deviate the course of the Achelous river and have it flow through the Thessaly plain into the Aegean instead of the Ionian Sea. Due to Greek Council of State claiming that such huge scale technical work would totally destroy the wetland habitats ecosystem of Achelous estuaries, the diversion scheme has been blocked.
The lake of Kremasta is also known for the 20 villages submerged along with dozens of churches and monasteries called also as the ÂŤAtlantis of EvrytaniaÂť. What stands out almost intact among the drowned ruins is a famous 8th century Byzantine church called Panagia of Episcopi, discovered recently 50 years later from amateurs divers.
The wetland habitats ecosystem of Acheloos estuaries, is protected by the Ramsar agreement and it is listed to the Special Protection Areas under the EU Birds Directive and were designated for inclusion in the national NATURA 2000 list.