NICOSIA residents face deeper water cuts as the summer temperatures kick in.
The bad news comes amid growing resentment that residents of Nicosia and Larnaca are second class citizens when it comes to water supply, compared to the more water privileged consumers of Limassol and Paphos.
Paphos has no water cuts whatsoever, Limassol enjoys water for 60 hours a week, while Nicosia and Larnaca have only 30 hours of water a week, with no water at weekends.
The head of the Nicosia Water Board said yesterday that further cuts were inevitable:
“We can’t respond to the demand due to the high weather temperatures with the result of having to cut the water supply to 10 hours instead of 12,” Nicos Zambakides told the Cyprus Mail, adding that areas at higher altitude were getting much less than that and supply averaging at around eight hours every two days. “Unfortunately the quantities are such that they do not allow us to act differently.”
He expressed his frustration at the unequal application of water cuts.
“The government decision was for equal cuts, and I believe the cuts should be equal and apply to all districts. We get hundreds of calls every day from residents in Nicosia complaining they feel they are second class citizens.
“We have no boreholes, so we have to depend on the government [Water Development Department] for the water supply.
“Last year we were assigned 52,000 cubic metres of water and this year we have seventy per cent of last year’s quantity. We have 36,400 cubic metres of daily supply of water so we have to divide it proportionally for 100,000 people,” he added.
“The high temperatures make the demand for water very high and the average water supply will be eight hours instead of 12 with no water on the weekends in Nicosia,” Zambakides told the Cyprus Mail
Senior water engineer at the Water Development Department (WDD) Vlassis Partassides admitted that, “Mr Zambakides is right. The water quantities for the Water Board are minimal and it is only natural to have cuts until the alternative water sources come into place, such as the water import from Greece. The first tanker from Greece is expected July 1. The water restrictions will be carried out up to April 2009, when the new mobile desalination unit comes online.”
Things are equally grim in Larnaca. Sophocles Christodoulides, general director of the Larnaca Water Board said: “Since last weekend, part of our new programme of water cuts is that no area will remain without water for more than 36 hours. Regarding the water cuts we have no choice but to apply these restrictions because the water supply for Larnaca is limited.
“To confront these cuts in the water supply, we limit our hours of supply to the consumers. The management of the water in Larnaca is made in the best possible way based on the quantities provided; we hope that they will not be lessened and that we will be able to maintain the water supply at 12 hours every 48.”
Much of the criticism has been levelled at Paphos Mayor, Savvas Vergas, who has refused to pass on the water cuts to his constituents. “We have managed to save water just like the other independent authorities and our city is smaller than the rest, we can more easily control consumption and we have limited plenty of our losses,” Vergas told the Cyprus Mail. “Of course the hot temperatures of the last few days are causing problems for us as well, and let me repeat one more time that we have a water cuts schedule in our drawer and we are ready to put it into effect when we judge it to be a necessary measure. But even if we decrease the water supply in Paphos it doesn’t mean that the water supply will increase in the other areas. They should let us manage the situation in the way we judge best.”
Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou sought to calm the fraying tempers: “Such statements do not help us as a collective to face the problems that exist from the lack of water,” he said, adding: “The government continues at an intensive pace on the implementation of direct measures, with the first measure being the transport of water from Greece, which will alleviate the problem.”
Next week, a number of officials, including the director of the State Laboratory, will go to Greece to observe and examine the procedures that are being followed, as well as the tankers that will be bringing the water.
