By Anthony O. Miller
LARNACA Mayor George Lycourgos kept his word yesterday, mustering a cross- section of his townspeople and officials to block traffic at the Larnaca Airport roundabout in protest against siting a permanent desalination plant in his city.
And they drew up a petition asking President Glafcos Clerides to intervene and stop all work locating the desalination facility in the protected Alikon area of salt lake.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous yesterday faced protests by residents of Ayios Theodoros and Zakaki during visits he made to the two villages, where he plans to erect two ‘mobile’ desalination plants this Spring.
The villagers do not want the two plants located as close to their villages as planned. They say the area is protected and frequented by tourists, and suggested moving the two ‘mobile’ plants to more “industrial” areas.
The Larnaca protest was orderly and brief, without arrests or other problems. Police let the demonstrators close the roundabout for about 10 minutes just after noon, protecting them from stranded drivers for the duration of the protest.
Larnaca residents oppose locating the permanent desalination plant – which would be the island’s second – near Larnaca Airport, as they already feel under seige from air pollution from the airport south of the city and the oil refinery to the north.
They also fear the facility and the electricity pylons and wires erected to power it will adversely affect the ecologically fragile environment of the Alikon salt flats area.
Their petition to Clerides, drawn up by the Municipality and its Development Committee, expressed regrets that it appeared the central government was again ignoring the “chronic problems of the town and the area,” despite promises to the contrary.
It noted that last June 16, Larnaca Municipality had pledged to “take strong measures” to press the government to keep promises it made to town authorities that same May 23.
The petition said that, with those promises still unkept, the decision to site the desalination plant outside the environmentally area seemed merely to “seal the government’s indifference” to Larnaca’s problems.
Those promises include a old government pledge to move the oil refinery out of Larnaca, as its fumes have long irritated city residents. However, questions of cost may prohibit this.
The petition charged that siting such a facility in an area already ecologically-challenged “breaks every rule of town planning and provocatively ignores local authorities as well as procedures calling for preparation of an environmental study.”
The decision was particularly wrong, they said, “because we are in a period of trying to harmonise with the European Union.”
Besides asking Clerides to intervene and halt the construction, the Larnaca petition sought to arrange talks between the city and the government to discuss where else to site the desalination plant.
In meeting with the Ayios Theodoros and Zakaki residents, Themistocleous said “the government is determined to solve the water problem.” He called “unacceptable” the fact that during the drought last summer, people had to buy water from water-truckers.
The minister said he would study proposals to move the desalination sites slightly from the locations planned for them now in the two villages. He was no more specific.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Movement of Cyprus yesterday called desalination “a desperate solution” to the drought, and urged the government to shelve plans to erect more such plants and consider alternatives.
If such plants are absolutely necessary, it suggested siting them only after proper environmental studies, and said, “at least 20 per cent of the energy used (to power the de-salting units) should come from solar power.”
The government plans to use voltage from the oil-fired government power plant to run the Larnaca desalination unit. The same power source now runs the Dhekelia Desalination Plant.
For lack of time to run electrical wires to the villages of Ayios Theodoros and Zakaki, Themistocleous said he planned to power the two ‘mobile’ desalting plants slated for there by electricity from diesel-powered generators.
Villagers object that the diesel generators will be too noisy and pollute the air. An Ayios Theodoros residents committee is threatening to sue the government over the issue.
The government last week awarded an Israeli joint-venture the contract to build the Larnaca desalination plant. Bids to award contracts to build the two ‘mobile’ units planned for Ayios Theodoros and Zakaki are expected to be opened this week.
