Tougher fines planned to save water

FINES will double and water development officials will be brought in to help deter consumers from wasting water under a new bill unveiled yesterday.

The proposal to amend a 1991 law – presented to the House Agriculture Committee – would make the use of a hose to wash a car or a pavement punishable by a £30 out of court fine.

And if new ideas are taken up, the ban will be extended to cover verandas, gates and the road in front of the house.

Under the same bill, officials from the department of water development will be empowered to report offenders.

But the fines will continue to be collected by officials from water boards and from local authorities and municipalities which currently hold exclusive responsibility for implementation of the law.

Nicos Tsiouris of the department of water development of the Agriculture Ministry said higher fines would help the fight to preserve water by acting as a deterrent.

And he said representatives of elected bodies had shown an “inability or unwillingness” to implement the law.

Water Board officials welcomed any measure which would help preserve water, but expressed reservations about the whole principle of policing, saying they preferred to work by persuasion.

The Union of Cypriot Municipalities gave backing to the bill, but smaller communities questioned the value of bringing in a second set of officials to do the same thing.

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