Water Department asks fire services to stop taking water from dams

WITH DAM capacity currently at a mere 7.7 per cent, the Water Development Department yesterday said it would be advising the relevant authorities not to use any more water from dams in the event of further fires.

Fire Services spokeswoman Lisa Kemidji said that water was used from four dams in the area as well as from open water depositories in order to put out Wednesday’s huge blaze that devastated 14 square kilometers of brush land in the Larnaca and Limassol districts.

“At this stage it is impossible to estimate the exact amount of water used as we still have personnel and equipment in the area,” she told the Mail.

“We will be liaising with Civil Defence and the National Guard and will release consumption figures next week, as they become available.”

When asked why more water from the sea was not used, especially at a time when the island is suffering from a severe drought causing water shortages, Kemidji said that “this would have delayed our fire-fighting capabilities to an unacceptable level. If the fire had been closer to the coast, it goes without saying that we would have used more.”

She added that the water taken was for irrigation purposes and not drinking water.

With countless fires across the island igniting every summer due to scorching temperatures and lack of rain, how prepared are the Fire Services for the coming months?

“We are prepared and there is enough water available to put out any fire,” Kemidji stated.

Senior Water Engineer at the Water Development Department Vlassis Partassides explained, however, that the current shortages have left the Department, “with no option other than to advise the relevant authorities not to take any more water from the dams in the event of further fires.”

He added that, “even though the overall water balance has not been affected by efforts to put out Wednesday’s blaze, dam levels are critically low.

“We currently have 21.18 million cubic metres and this compares with 62.38 or 22.8 per cent of capacity at this time last year,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.