THREATS voiced by Mammari community leader Nikos Kodjiapashis that the village would take dynamic action including cutting off water supply to Nicosia has lead to renewed promises by authorities to provide clean water to the community, as well as free medical tests to all residents.
“We have received information that by Wednesday we will get some final results from the lab test on the new boreholes, and whether they can be connected to our network. The Minister of Agriculture has also invited us to see him, while we were also informed that the Ministry of Health will soon offer all of us free medical tests to check whether our health was affected from the arsenic,” Kodjiapashis told the Cyprus Mail.
The renewed promises came following an outburst by desperate residents who continue to wait in line for some clean water supplied by a water tanker, almost 40 days after they were promised that safe boreholes would be opened.
“People are desperate…1,600 people are waiting. Next week we will go to the Minister of Agriculture and then to the Presidential Palace to talk to the President and then we will go and steal water as we don’t have water to drink. We will go and find pipes that send water to Nicosia and shut them. We went without water for one month. So Nicosia residents can then go without for a month,” Kodjiapashis was quoted as saying in Simerini on Sunday.
Mammari community council also sent a letter to the Ministry of Education, calling them to install new water tanks at schools, so that pupils can have access to clean water until a more permanent solution to the water supply problem is found. At present the water at Mammari school is deemed unsafe, meaning that when school opens on Thursday pupils will not have access to clean water, raising additional health concerns.
“Schools will open. There’s no water at school, how will children cope. What will they do without water and how will they take precautions from the swine flu as everyone says that you have to wash and be clean. With what water will they wash? Will the parents take them flasks of water to wash with? We sent a letter to the Ministry of Education asking this, but got no reply,” Kodjiapashis said.
Since elevated levels of arsenic were traced in Mammari’s water supply, residents have been getting their supply from a tanker that arrives at the village every day. Despite the assurances that the process of connecting new boreholes to the village water network would start on August 17, the quality of this water has not been confirmed yet, leaving villagers in limbo.
Authorities have also failed to the present to identify the cause of Mammari’s water problem. Although villagers suspect that the waste from a local chicken farm may be to blame, there is no evidence to support this view. “The Environment Service is still investigating the cause of the contamination. Although we suspect a specific chicken farm, we have no evidence to prove that,” Kodjiapashis noted.
Meanwhile, the contamination of the water supply at Menoiko village in Nicosia district from a petrol leak has not yet been addressed, causing an outcry by locals and Greens. “Despite the assurances by authorities that the borehole that supplies Menoiko is now clean, and after water supply to households resumed, the problem with the strong smell of the water reappeared,” the Greens said yesterday.
In a separate incident in the village of Akrounda in Limassol, reports were raised over a new borehole deemed unsuitable for consumption. Akrounda’s village leader Christoforos Papadopoulos, however, dispelled the rumours, clarifying that the unsuitable borehole has been shut and was never used to supply Akrounda.
“Indeed, on 7 July 2009 an additional borehole was opened, but analysis showed that its barium level was too high- at 3.10. So, the borehole was locked and never used. I cannot understand why all this trouble was made by the media. In the meantime we expect the opening of a borehole from Yermasoyia Reservoir to be opened within days, so we will not have any problems, both in terms of quality or quantity,” Papadopoulos said.
