Water in dams at half the level of last year

As the hot summer continue unabated in Cyprus, the Water Department on Sunday said the islands dams are only 36.8 per cent full, a result also of slow inflow during a dry winter.

On July 19, the department recorded a total water supply of 107 million cubic metres, compared to 176.6 at the same time last year, when the dams were 60.7 per cent full.

The lowest figure was seen in Nicosia, where dams are 29.8 per cent full while this time last year they were 76.3 per cent, while the dams on the southern conveyor, including the island’s largest dam of Kouris recorded 33.8 per cent fullness, a figure which last year stood at 56.5 per cent.

In the Polis Chrysochous region, the four dams have a total of 41.1 per cent of capacity compared t 64.6 last year while in Paphos as a whole the dams are now 43.5 per cent full when last year this figure was 69.8.

According to the Water Department, the flow of water into the dams from October 1 until July 19 reached 24.5 million cubic metres compared to 48.77 for the whole of last year, from October 1 to September 30.

Due to the lack of water the government has allocated a budget of €58.1 million for the operation of desalination plants.