Cyprus continues to face a tense water situation. The government is therefore planning to introduce significantly higher water fees for households and businesses with particularly high consumption. The planned surcharges are expressly intended as a deterrent, explained Iliana Tofa, director of the water development authority, on Thursday.

As Tofa explained to CyBC Radio, the new fee regulations are currently under legal review. After completion of this procedure, the adjustments are to be implemented. At the same time, she emphasized that a conscious and economical use of water is inevitable and is expected of everyone.

The general director of the Nicosia district administration, Constantinos Parmaklis, also commented on the same broadcast, confirming that the legal review is nearing completion. As soon as the legality is confirmed, the plans will be forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior for final approval.

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The planned surcharges are intended to affect consumers who consume more than 60 cubic meters of water a day. According to Parmaklis, the additional costs could be up to 10 euros per cubic meter. Currently, the maximum price is still around 5 euros per cubic meter. The new tariffs are to apply uniformly throughout the state, as all five district administrations have agreed on a common fee model.

The background to the measures is once again tightened warnings from the Ministry of Agriculture. Its State Secretary Andreas Gregoriou had previously stated that water shutdowns were quite possible. The country's water reserves are at a historically low level.

We are facing an exceptionally difficult year, Gregoriou said. Despite investments in desalination plants and measures to reduce water losses, it is no longer sustainable to consume water unchanged in private and professional everyday life. Nevertheless, the government's goal is to avoid widespread water interruptions in summer - although mathematically around ten percent less water will be available than needed.

Current figures from the water development authority show the extent of the situation: The island's reservoirs are currently only 13.3 percent full. This corresponds to almost 39 million cubic meters of water and is just over half of the previous year's figure. At the beginning of 2024, reserves were still 26.1 percent full, and in December 2023 they were as high as 45.5 percent.

From a regional perspective, a similar picture emerges. The reservoirs in the Paphos area are currently at about 14 percent fill, while a year ago they were over 27 percent. The situation is somewhat better in the Polis Chrysochous region, where storage facilities are currently around 20.5 percent full.

The situation in the south of the country is particularly critical. The main water pipeline there is now only fed by reservoirs, which are filled to an average of 11.8 percent - compared to 25.8 percent in the previous year. The situation in the Achna reservoir is extreme: it is almost empty and contains only around 120,000 cubic metres of water. A year ago, the amount of water there was almost sixteen times as high.

An exception is the Nicosia area. There, the district's three reservoirs are currently better filled than last year. Overall, the filling level is just under 28 percent, compared to 17 percent last year. The reservoir of Kalopanayiotis has currently even reached its maximum capacity.



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Author: Editorial Team
Source: CyBC Radio, CyprusMail.com