TIRANA, Albania (Tirana Times, September 14, 2025) — In a city where cranes rise daily and glass towers dominate the skyline, the most basic element of urban life — running water — is vanishing.
For more than three months, the residence of the European Union ambassador in Tirana has received water for just an hour and a half each day. The same rationing affects the residences of Spain, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Japan, Russia, Qatar and several other embassies. At times, taps remain dry for two or even three days in a row.
The Albanian water utility (UKT) insists that each villa is entitled to one cubic meter of water daily — an already minimal quota — but even this is often not delivered. On September 4, UKT issued its standard reply: “measures are being taken to improve the situation.” Weeks later, nothing had changed.
The irony is striking. The EU ambassador, an Italian who frequently speaks of Albania’s “historic chance” to join the bloc by 2030, comes from Rome — the city that pioneered aqueducts two millennia ago. The Greek Ambassador, also left with dry taps, represents a country where aqueducts were built in the sixth century B.C. Austria’s ambassador recalls that Vienna has enjoyed continuous Alpine water since Emperor Franz Joseph inaugurated the Hochquellenleitung in 1873. Even Egypt’s representative is affected, though his own homeland engineered irrigation systems along the Nile more than 3,000 years before Christ.
That diplomats from countries with centuries — even millennia — of hydraulic engineering must now scramble for rooftop tanks in Tirana underscores what many locals describe as a tragicomic reality. “The European future is being toasted in Tirana without a glass of water,” one observer noted.
Behind the shortages lies not only aging infrastructure but also a relentless construction boom. Tirana’s skyline, once modest, has been transformed by dozens of luxury towers and high-rise apartments. Yet planning for water and sewage has lagged far behind. No major new supply sources or distribution networks have been developed to meet the soaring demand.
Urban planners warn that the capital’s single main water plant cannot cope with the growth. Instead of expanding capacity, officials have approved projects that glitter above ground while below, residents rely on rooftop tanks, pumps and plastic barrels.
Adding to the scandal is the history of failed reform projects. Over the past three decades, the World Bank, the European Union, the German development agency (GIZ), and other donors have poured tens of millions of euros into modernizing Albania’s water supply. Projects financed under EU pre-accession funds (IPA) and by international financial institutions promised 24-hour supply and modern networks.
Yet progress has been minimal. Reports from the European Court of Auditors and local watchdogs point to chronic mismanagement, inflated tenders, weak oversight, and outright corruption. Despite repeated injections of foreign aid, Albania’s water utilities remain plagued by inefficiency, high losses in the network, and poor service delivery.
Diplomats now find themselves experiencing firsthand the shortcomings of the very institutions the EU has funded for years. “This is more than an inconvenience — it is a governance failure,” one Western official remarked privately.
Water has long been a political promise in Albania. In 2013, Prime Minister Edi Rama campaigned with the slogan “24 hours of water and electricity.” The same pledge was repeated in 2017 and again in 2021. By the May 2025 elections, however, the promise had quietly vanished from the Socialist Party’s platform. Instead, Rama’s government offered only one major commitment: Albania will become an EU member by 2030.
Adding a new layer of absurdity, the government has recently announced plans to force residents of Tirana to remove their rooftop water tanks — the very lifeline that allows them to cope with shortages. From above, the city’s terraces resemble a “forest of tanks.” One local analyst quipped that if the government proceeds with this beautification campaign, it will amount to an experiment to test how long the human body can survive without water. Another expert noted that several government actions now seem designed to polish Albania’s aesthetics for Europe, since by 2030 the country is expected to join the EU. As for water itself, some joke that the government might have to turn to prayer — much like a parliamentarian in Warsaw once suggested during a drought — hoping for rain to save the capital’s taps.
For weary citizens, the shift was telling. “First we were promised water, now only Europe,” one Tirana resident quipped. “But we can’t drink EU membership.”
The symbolism is hard to miss. Ambassadors from countries that mastered water engineering millennia ago now struggle with buckets and rooftop tanks in Tirana. Ordinary residents do the same, caught between gleaming skyscrapers and dry pipes.
The government’s answer is that water will flow — eventually, when Albania joins the EU. Until then, both citizens and diplomats are left waiting, uncertain whether it is Europe or water that will arrive first. Albania may join the EU by 2030, but until then, its ambassadors and citizens alike will keep queuing for water.
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