Residents threaten court appeal against desalination plant

By Martin Hellicar

ZAKAKI residents yesterday threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court if the state insisted on building a desalination plant in their suburb.

Residents presented a British expert’s study suggesting the building of a desalination plant in their neighbourhood would have destructive environmental impacts.

The study, by civil engineer Dr Derrick Beckett, also suggested drinking desalinated water over a number of years could have adverse health effects.

Zakaki mayor, Andreas Demetriades, said the local community would appeal to the Supreme Court if the House approved a government decision to build a desalination plant on Ladies Mile beach next to the new Limassol port.

The Limassol suburb’s residents are set against state plans to build a desalination plant in their “back yards”.

Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous insists the plant is needed to combat growing water shortages. Limassol will have to suffer deeper water cuts if the plant is not built soon, the Minister warned.

Themistocleous also insists the environmental impact from a Zakaki plant would be minimal.

At a press conference yesterday, the local residents’ action group presented the initial findings of the environmental impact study they commissioned Beckett to carry out.

The study, the action group said, showed the plant would have “destructive” long and short-term impacts on the local environment.

Beckett’s study, the residents said, showed there was a small, but measurable, risk to human health from long-term consumption of desalinated water. The study suggests desalinated water is better used for agriculture.

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