Municipal bath in Paphos awarded 20 year Blue Flag certificate

PAPHOS municipality has again been awarded blue flag status for all six of its beaches this year, much to the delight of the head of the beaches committee.

Nicos Simillides told the Cyprus Mail that he is also proud that three of the beaches have also been awarded a special recognition, a ‘Blue Flag 20 Years certificate.’

“These flags are for three beaches at Bania (the municipal baths) and Sodap (Vrysoudia A and B) in Kato Paphos. We have been making applications for these for two decades and have always achieved a blue flag. We have since added other areas and are very happy with the result,” he said.

He noted that this achievement is even more remarkable considering the municipality budget allocated for cleaning the beaches is very small and that there is only one municipal worker employed to look after a 10km stretch.

“We are well organised with the groups that help us such as, associations, schools and the army, they all play a part in helping us to keep the beaches clean.”

The blue flag programme is recognised all over the world and operated under the authority of the Foundation for Environmental Education which is headquartered in Copenhagen. It promotes clean waters and environmental issues and awareness.

A further eights flags were awarded to other beaches in the Paphos district.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.