RESIDENTS of the village of Mammari were yesterday told that their community was not the only one to be affected by high levels of arsenic in the water supply. Speaking at a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture set up to discuss the course of action being taken following the toxic discovery in the village’s water supply, Deputy Permanent Secretary Aigli Pantelaki announced to the residents and members of the press that arsenic had also been found in the water supply of an animal-feed plant in the nearby community of Kokkinotrimthia.
Pantelaki told the meeting that the recent discovery of the contamination related to an isolated water source that was used exclusively by the 25 people working at the plant, and that the termination of the supply had been immediately submitted in an order to the village council. She added that the Environmental Services were “looking for an appropriate water source for the plant to use”.
In statements given after the meeting, Pantelaki said that because of the nine to ten-month timeframe which had been initially predicted for comprehensive causes of the contamination to be reached, a special committee had been established and ordered “to conduct immediate sample-analyses of all the possible sources of contamination, so that there can be a provisional indication of the source as soon as possible.”
Environment Commissioner Charalambos Theopemptou yesterday explained the problems in identifying sources of contamination.
“Arsenic can be the by-product of many different practices and interactions between chemicals. Sources could vary from the industrial activities in the area, the burning and decomposition of waste, fertilisers, and even the type of piping being used in delivering the water itself,’ he said.
On the issue of fertilisers and pesticides, which are widely known to contain a plethora of noxious chemicals, Theopemptou added that in Cyprus, the use of fertilisers was “unregulated for many years before we joined the EU”. It was also reported that some actors in the agricultural sector had taken to “purchasing unregulated and non-approved fertilizer from the occupied territories because it is cheaper there,” he added.
Chief operator of the Environment Services Chystalla Stylianou, who was also present at yesterday’s meeting, told reporters that because “some industrial complexes in the area are for the time being closed for the holidays, samples will only be able to be taken at the end of August and beginning of September.”
Pantelaki expressed optimism that fresh, clean water would begin flowing into Mammari from two new boreholes by the end of next week.
According to Pantelaki, these two new sources would “meet 90 per cent of the needs of the community”, adding that the water flowing from them would be monitored on a daily basis in order to continually confirm that it maintains appropriate levels of quality.
Of the remaining 10 per cent of the village’s requirements, Pantelaki outlined how the ministry was currently undertaking “preliminary extraction tests” from another bore hole. If the results of the new source come back positive, as is expected, then it will ultimately constitute a “reserve source, as it will yield more water than the needs of the village.”
The mukhtar of Mammari Nikos Kotsiambasis said that the people of his community remain worried and feel uncomfortable with all the talk of contamination surrounding their village, adding that he hopes that “slowly-slowly, people will begin to calm down.” As for the causes of the arsenic in the water and the possibility that it is a problem not confined to that specific part of the island, the state lab is likely to be set for a busy time conducting samples of water that has been presumed safe until now.
