Drought-stricken Cyprus forced to dump water imported from Greece

Jul 16, 2008, 12:10 GMT

Athens/Nicosia - The drought-stricken Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been forced to dump its first shipment of water from Greece because it smells bad, officials said Wednesday.

A tanker containing some 40,000 cubic meters of water arrived off the coast of Limassol two weeks ago and was supposed to be pumped into the city's water network once infrastucture was completed to bring it onland.

But Cypriot Agriculture Minister Michalis Polynikis said that the water has been deemed unsuitable for consumption because of its bad odour and will be channeled into an aquifer rather than directly into the island's water network.

Tests carried out by state labs found that the quality of water had been altered due to its excessive chlorination in recent days, leading to to the water emitting a bad odour, Polynikis said.

The development comes as a huge blow to Limassol's Water Board as the town's water supply is dangerously low and its consumers are already surviving on very little water, the Cyprus Mail writes, saying that five villages have already resorted to bottled water.

Cyprus, which is heavily reliant on rainfall for water supplies, is suffering one of the worst droughts and water shortages in the past 100 years.

The island's reservoirs have reached dangerously low levels and its two desalination plants are unable to keep up with industry and the household demand of more than 800,000 people as well as tens of thousands of visitors at the height of the tourist season.

The drought has also forced authorities in March to impose emergency measures which include cutting household water supply by 30 per cent in an effort to tackle the shortage.

The agriculture ministry said that the island's water shortage problem was estimated at 16 million cubic metres and could end up costing the government some 40 million euros (63 million dollars).

Greece has agreed to sell 8 million cubic meters of water to Cyprus by November 15.

The Mediterranean island's 109 reservoirs are only 6 per cent full, containing 19.7 million cubic metres of water and Cyprus' largest dam, the Kouri, is expected to run dry in the next few months, according to the most recent data.

According to official statistics, rainfall in Cyprus has dropped by about 20 per cent over the past 35 years and unseasonal weather has seen temperatures rising above 30 degrees Celsius.

Across the island, water is being pumped out of the ground at an unsustainable pace, but many boreholes supplying communities have been shut down because they are at risk of seawater contamination.