A total of 1.6 million cubic metres of water flowed into Cyprus’ reservoirs in the last four days, water development department representative Yianna Economidou said on Friday.
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, she said the Kouris reservoir in Limassol saw the largest inflow, with a total of 377,000 cubic metres of water running into it since Monday.
She added that the second-largest inflow was recorded at the Arminou reservoir near the Paphos district village of Ayios Nicolaos, serving the southern conveyor, which saw an inflow of 247,000 cubic metres. In third place was the Asprokremmos reservoir in the Paphos district village of Phoinikas, which was an inflow of 214,000 cubic metres.
In total, she said, 7.2 million cubic metres of water have flowed into Cyprus’ reservoirs since the hydrological year began on October 1, with this week’s rainfall having contributed to a small uptick in the level of water in the reservoirs, rising from 25.4 per cent on Monday to 25.8 per cent on Friday.
With this in mind, she did acknowledge that the level of water in Cyprus’ reservoirs remains low, with that figure having been 45.5 per cent exactly a year ago, and said “much higher levels of rainfall” would be required for reservoir water levels to significantly rise.
“We want more than 100 millimetres of rain for a long period of time so there can be a real difference made. We are hoping it will happen in the next few days,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Paphos district governor Charalambos Pittokopitis had called for two new dams to be constructed to serve his district’s water supply – one on the Diarizos river near the village of Souskiou and one on the Ezousa river near the village of Episkopi.
He added that studies had been carried out regarding the potential construction of the two dams, and said the water development department should “set them as priorities” because they would “greately strengthen agriculture and farming” in the Paphos district.
Currently, the Paphos district is served by a total of three reservoirs – the Asprokremmos reservoir, the Kannaviou reservoir, and the Mavrokolympos reservoir.
A total of 325,000 cubic metres of water have flowed into the three reservoirs in the last four days, with the reservoirs serving the Paphos area currently the fullest on the island, reaching a total of 29.9 per cent on Friday.
In total, there are 75.1 million cubic metres of water in Cyprus’ reservoirs at present, which is just over half the figure recorded this time last year, when there were 133 million cubic metres of water in the reservoirs, meaning they were 45.5 per cent full at the time.
Broken down by area, those linked to the southern conveyor are now 24.9 per cent full, compared to a figure of 42 per cent recorded a year ago. While reservoirs in the Paphos area are faring the best now, they were 53.9 per cent full a year ago.
Reservoirs near Polis Chrysochous are currently 23.2 per cent full, less than half the figure of 47.4 per cent recorded last year, while the starkest difference was recorded in the Nicosia district, where reservoirs are currently just 13.8 per cent full – a little over a quarter of last year’s figure of 50.1 per cent.
In particular, the Vyzakia reservoir in the Nicosia district has just 51,000 cubic metres of water in it and is as such just three per cent full, with no water having entered it since the hydrological year began in October. This time a year ago, it held almost 12 times more water.
