THE DRY bed of the Limnaria river, which runs from Konia roundabout down to the Debenhams store in Paphos, is almost completely backed up with rubbish.
Local councillor, Vassos Demitriou, believes court action should be taken against the irresponsible people who are illegally dumping and fly tipping here.
He said the general picture of the surrounding area is a disaster.
Andreas Evlavis, the district secretary for the Paphos Greens told the Cyprus Mail, “Dumping in this riverbed had been going on for about seven years.
“The Greens have complained about it many times, but no one seems to be taking the matter seriously.”
The river’s source is in Konia and according to Evlavis is about 80 metres wide in places.
“When the river reaches the industrial area, its only five metres wide in some places,” he pointed out. “This is due to huge amounts of illegal dumping and people extending their land.”
Illegally dumped construction and demolition waste, as well as various other rubbish have drastically reduced the riverbeds’ width.
Demetriou pointed out that this area should be a place where people could enjoy walks as well as an area for children to play in, but he added that it is now an ecological disaster.
He underlined that he hoped measures would be taken to correct the illegal actions so as to allow the free running of water in the river.
Evlavis added that with the next heavy rains “the whole area will flood and it will be a disaster.”
The Paphos district secretary advised that following the death of a couple in Paphos, whose car was swept away by a torrent of water, which had built up in a rubbish filled river bed during heavy rains, that EDEK had carried out extensive investigations in the Limnaria river area.
“They found out back then that a dangerous amount of rubbish was blocking the free flow of water,” he said.
According to Evlavis, officials have assured that measures would be taken to rectify the situation, but that as yet, nothing has been done.
“This area used to be full of life; wildlife and plant life. But now it’s dead and no one cares,” he said. “This area is in the middle of Paphos, can you imagine what other areas are like?
“There are laws in place to prevent this kind of thing, but if the authorities, the district office and the mayor don’t use the law then nothing will be done about the terrible situation.”
