CyprusVista

With soaring temperatures in Cyprus this week, one person definitely feeling the heat is Kyriakos Kyrrou from the Cyprus water department. The problems with the supply of water shipped from Greece and brought to Limassol via on offshore pipeline continues, with an air bubble blocking the pipe and causing a shut-down that may last until Sunday.

Limassol needs the first batch of over 8million cubic metres of water due to be shipped from Greece - and needs it fast. The city’s reservoir has only 800,000 cubic metres of water remaining to supply this busy holiday destination, which normally uses 45,000 cubic metres of water a day. The authorities are currently investigating diverting some of the output from the country’s two desalination plants, which produce 100,000 cubic metres of water a day, from Nicosia to Limassol.

Meanwhile, North Cyprus has been given the green light for a 110km water pipeline from Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that; “The project should be completed at the latest within three years beginning in June next year (2009). The government has given the necessary instructions to the environment ministry so the project can be finalised.”

Up to 80 kms of the new pipeline will run under the sea from the Turkish coast to North Cyprus, transporting up to 75million cubic metres per year. The pipeline, and similar water shipping schemes to the current south Cyprus arrangement have been under discussion for several years in North Cyprus.

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The arrival of a tanker full of drinking water off the coast of Cyprus this week will bring welcome relief to the island’s dwindling water reserves.

Two tankers a day for the next six months will leave the port of Elefsina in Greece to sail to an offshore pumping station at Limassol in Cyprus, ferrying a total of 8 million cubic metres of water. Cyprus water supplies are at their lowest since 1908 due to four years without significant rainfall. The emergency shipments, dismissed back in early spring as “pure science fiction” according to a BBC report, will cost the Republic of Cyprus government 38 million Euros.

The Senior Engineer at the Cyprus Department of Water Development, Kyriacos Kirou, explained how the fresh water from Greece has been fully tested before being pumped along a specially constructed underwater pipeline. Most of the imported water will join the supply network in Limassol, with some channeled to the storage depot near Yermasogeias to cope with tourism requirements. Any surplus will join the southern pipeline to supply the Famagusta and Larnaca districts.

Cyprus is not alone in shipping in water to alleviate water shortages. Back in May this year, the Spanish city of Barcelona was forced to bring in tankers of water after the city’s main reservoir dropped to below 18% capacity. 2008 has been the driest year since records began in Spain in 1948. Each shipment of water to the parched Spanish city contains 28 million litres, with up to 12 shipments arriving every month.

Water is also at the heart of negotiations between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights area. This large plateau provides around 30% of Israel’s fresh water supplies.

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