Water cuts could be the only way people will economise

WATER usage in December increased by over 10 per cent in all areas and by as much as 20 per cent in some, including Nicosia, compared to the same month in 2007 as cuts were eased over the Christmas period.
Agriculture Minister Michalis Polynikis, the had told the Water Development Department (WDD) to stop water cuts during the holiday season so that consumers could have an uninterrupted flow over the Christmas period.  The last time the water supply was not cut over the Christmas period was in 2007.
The WDD said that service providers wanted to encourage a “water consciousness” amongst consumers.  Despite their efforts to encourage the public to economise, however, consumption actually increased this year when water was supplied under similarly non-interrupted conditions in 2007. 
In December 2007 Cyprus was still suffering from four-year drought period whereas this year some of the smaller capacity dams have actually been filled to overflowing.
For this reason the WDD has reached the initial tentative conclusion that reducing water consumption can only be achieved by means of periodically stopping supply. 
The government, was initially considering suspending all cuts and other restrictions in February 2010, given the amount of rainfall over the past three months. 
However this move could be under threat as the figures appear to show that when people perceive that there is lots of water, they don’t feel the need to economise.
The WDD is due to begin an assessment of water consumption behaviour over the next few days in order to attempt to find the causes for the observed increase in consumption.
The first study to be performed as part of the assessment will focus on ascertaining whether there has been an increase in the number of flow meters in place.  Officials are virtually certain, however, that neither this nor an increase in urbanisation is the cause for the increase which has been seen.
The most likely reason, according to officials at the WDD, is the lack of realisation on the part of many consumers that they need to economise on water regardless of the levels of the dams and the operation of desalination plants. 
This particular possible cause is due to be studied very thoroughly in the upcoming assessment as it is believed by officials that a large part of the increase in water consumption is due to unnecessary usage.
From the conclusions arrived at through the WDD’s assessment study the future tactics to be followed in relation to the periodic cutting of the water supply will be formulated.

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