THE BRITISH Bases say they are saving water in line with the island’s drought emergency, even though they are not cutting supply as is the case in most of Cyprus.
In fact, the Sovereign Base Areas are mostly self-sufficient in water, receiving only small quantities from the national Water Development Department. The SBA in Dhekelia obtains half its potable water from the Dhekelia desalination unit, while the Episkopi SBA gets most of its water supply from its own boreholes. They purchase the rest of their required water from the Republic.
“We only provide the bases with a small quantity of water,” said Nicodemos Nicodemou, Chief Engineer of the Water Development Department. “As far as I know, they obtain most of their water from their own sources.”
The Water Development Department has requested that a 30 per cent saving in water consumption is enforced, reducing the flow to local water boards. “We take the water shortage problem very seriously,” claims SBA spokesman Nick Ulvert. “Flow has been reduced by 30 per cent and we are actually trying to save further.”
This reduction has been achieved without implementing any water cuts, a measure which would be catastrophic to the SBAs’ fragile pipe system. “There is a real fear that if we reduce the water flow the pipe network will be destroyed – pipes would explode because of the pressure and there would be leaks,” said Ulvert.
The focus was “on reducing household consumption, by changing people’s mindsets. There are minor things people can do to save water e.g. placing bricks in toilets, or using economical, water-efficient dishwashers,” Ulvert said. These sound like “silly things, but they’re not silly things. If you’ve got 8,000 people doing this, it makes a difference.”
The SBA in Dhekelia is also working on upgrading its desalination unit. The reverse osmosis plant is fully operational and currently pumps out 300 cubic metres of water each day. “We are aiming to increase this flow to 510 cubic metres per day by the end of September”, Ulvert told the Mail. This will effectively cover 80 per cent of the SBA’s water requirement.
