Water shortages ‘a thing of the past’

WATER shortages, cuts and imports are something Cypriot society will not have to experience again as the island becomes independent from rain to cover its needs, the agriculture minister said yesterday.
“Our water reserves today are 158 million cubic metres. With sensible management… these reserves would be enough to cover our total needs until the end of 2011… when two out of three desalination units will be operational,” Demetris Eliades said.
A desalination unit at Kouklia, Paphos, is ready and is currently being tested.
It can produce 30,000 cubic metres of water per day and cover the wider Paphos area.
A unit at Episkopi, Limassol, is expected to be on line by the end of 2011 and the third unit at Vasiliko, Larnaca, should be operational in February 2012.
“Cypriot society, the Cypriot economy and tourism will be secure under any conditions,” Eliades said. “Water shortages, cuts, and worse, importing water so that people could have a glass of water on their table, will not be experienced again by Cypriot society.”
The minister appeared certain that the problems experienced one and a half years ago will be a thing of the past.
In 2008, Cyprus was forced to import potable water from Greece, which cost taxpayers over €30 million for some 8.0 million cubic metres.
The water was carried to Cyprus over a period of 10 months amid problems with the infrastructure and questions regarding the high price.
The Greek water cost the state €5.50 per tonne, whereas on average desalinated water costs 70 cents per tonne.
President Demetris Christofias meanwhile stressed that the water problem cannot be tackled with isolated and piecemeal measures but through comprehensive means through an institutional framework governing the operation of the water sector.
“This was the big challenge for the government, to which we have responded by passing the law for the unified management of water,” Christofias said at the opening of a waste water processing plant outside Nicosia.
The law put all services dealing with water under the Water Development Department, getting rid of the large number of services involved in the sector that led to coordination problems.
Christofias said the processing plant would benefit the people and contribute to the protection of underground aquifers.
“The recycled water will replace part of the underground water used today for irrigation, enabling the aquifers to recover,” the president said.

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