Holidays without water, thanks to the Paphos Water Board

Sir,

I am extremely upset with our Water Board in Paphos. I have an apartment in Kato Paphos that I let on a long term basis; my tenant called me on Friday December 22nd and complained that there was no water.

I rushed to the water board to see what the problem was, it was 12.30pm and they had just closed for the long weekend.

So now, my tenant has no water to bath, clean, wash clothes, cook and the worst part is it is a long weekend due to the festive season and the water board will only open again on Wednesday December 27 (five days without water).

I get to the Water Board first thing last Wednesday morning and they say “We did not cut your water, there is something wrong with your piping system.” So I got a plumber to go out and have a look at the problem, he said that the timer had been stolen and that I had to go back to the Water Board so they could replace it.

I go back on Thursday 28th (six days without water) and they said they needed to visit the property and investigate and if indeed the timer has been stolen then they would replace it. I asked him when this was going to happen as my tenants have been without water for six days now. He replied, well it’s Thursday now and we close at 1230pm so we will not be able to do it today; he also mentioned that due to the fact that it is the festive season, they will not be working on Friday December 29. I was fuming and stated that Friday 29 is not a public holiday! He said that he works for the government and if they decide that Friday the 29th is a public holiday, then Friday 29th is a public holiday!

My tenant has now gone through another long weekend without water, i.e. until today, Wednesday January 3, 2007 (12 days now).

Can you fathom how bad this situation really is? This needs to stop; the government cannot carry on like this. It is disgraceful; do we have any rights as individuals?
Georgia Pyrkas, Paphos

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