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The continuing saga of the shortage of water in Cyprus took another twist yesterday. As the container ship full of imported Greek drinking water spent its 15th day day moored off the coast at Limassol in soaring temperatures, government scientists confirmed that the water was no longer fit for human consumption.
The water chemical make-up has altered due to the levels of chlorine added to keep the water potable during its journey, and in addition, the water ’smells’ due to the time spent sloshing around in the ship’s tanks.
The much-needed water delivery should have been piped ashore last week, until it was discovered that the rapidly-constructed pipeline was just over 3m metres short.
The water shipments are costing the Cyprus taxpayers a massive Euro45 million. While the Greeks are only charging Cyprus Euro0.67 per cubic metre, the final cost to the Cyprus taxpayer is Euro5 per cubic metre.
Therefore, over 86% of the final cost of the imported drinking water is accounted for by transportation and distribution costs. In contrast, water from the country’s existing desalination plants costs just Euro1 a cubic litre. (Did somebody actually bother to do the maths on this one before ordering the water?)
However, the good new is that the shipload of water will not be wasted. The precious cargo will be pumped to the Yermosoyia reservoir for agricultural use only - when the pipeline is fixed…
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