Paphos People

Looking at the weather today, I'm wondering if we'll get enough rain to fill the dams to a sufficient level that we don't have to suffer hose pipe bans during the summer months, which we all know will be long & hot

I was thinking if we do have hose pipe bans, how will the people with swimming pools cope? As the water level drops below your skimmers due to evaporation & you're unable to fill it up, will you just leave it, switch it off, cover it up or try to find someway of keeping your pool from filling up with lots of undesirable living creatures floating on the surface of your pool

I for one don't have a problem, as my pool is self-filling, so I won't need to get the hose out & risk getting spotted by the water police. I also have a few pool toys which help keep the pool clean & flowing even if the pool water level drops below the skimmers, so no need to do anything except sit back & enjoy the summer

So what will you do

Since we don't have a pool no worries, but next door's one, we will fill it up just like the Cypriots who wash the road, walls, patios, verandas - you name it so a few inches of pool water won't make much difference. Naughty I know, but I am so careful with water in the house and I see it being wasted - possibly ask another neighbour if we can fill it up from his bore hole and then give it a really good clean.

Has anyone ever seen the water police?

_________________


"Your dog is your friend, your partner, your defender. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true until the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion"

There is plenty of time for a lot more rain before April. The rain here on the coast doesn't help at all, so hopefully more of it will have landed upstream; but one or two day's rain will not be enough to make much of an impact.

During the last drought we had water only one or two days a week for a couple of hours during the night, which was enough to fill the roof tanks. Our roof tank holds 800 litres which is enough for cooking, drinking and washing if we are careful.

The water may as well evaporate from our pool as the reservoir, so I won't be too bothered about topping it up, but the garden may take a hit.

I don't understand the thinking that allows the use of private bore holes from the same aquifer used for the public supply, but until that too runs out, I am sure my neighbour can be cajoled into letting us top up the pool from his well if required.

When we get our title deeds we will be drilling our own well - provided the government is still offering grants to do so.

The government has said that there is enough water in storage to supply the drinking water needs of the island for the next year. How they are going to stop the use of 'drinking' water for other purposes is a mystery that wasn't explained

Still a problem with no appreciable rainfall this last 4 months, stocks have been about the same for last couple of months with rainfall same as usage for that time.
Have a look for the last 10 years :-
http://www.moa.gov.cy/moa/wdd/Wdd.nsf/r ... enDocument

_________________
Mal

There has been a permanent hose pipe ban for a long time now, but people dont seem to take much notice.

I'm sure some fines were given out last year though.

_________________
Molly

Treat others as you want to be treated

Last week we saw shopkeepers hosing down the front of their shops in the full view of the police. Water is still running down the sroads of Anarita each morning. There will not be a drought, we prayed for rain last week and our prayers will be answered.

Pete, I did some quick calculations on info available from the WDD website and over last 12months the dams "gave" the WDD 68MCM, now we have 26MCM so are 42MCM short on previous 12 months requirement, so considering there is more usage in summer than winter ... the figures suggest that right now there is no more than 4 months water available. To avoid rationing of any kind (either to agriculture or to domestic supply) we will need a miracle surely ? As KG says, still time for more rain but can't recent history suggest we won't get 424MCM before summer

KG, In the Paphos area the "Paphos Coastal Plain" (airport to Peyia) houses the groundwater which our neighbours and farmers have bored holes to access. This specific aquifer is, according to the info available, is re-charged through riverbeds that run over/through it during the rainy times, outside of this time it doesn't get re-charged. The Paphos dams (from which presumably our tap water is treated on route to our homes) are storing water above the coastal plain so i beleive are two separate entities.

Generally i don't understand why this topic only gets a few paragraphs in the English language Cyprus Weekly ... maybe everyone else and the powers that be know something i/we (the worriers) don't know and all will be well.

It was my understanding that the coastal villages, like Kissonerga, take their domestic water supplies from this same aquifer, but from higher up the hill than our location (there's a pumping station on the road to Tala). If you take water from the bottom of the well, those accessing from the top lose their water first. It's all the same water. In any case it still has to rain to fill the underground rivers.

They stealing "our" water ! Arminou is in the Paphos district ... but they send most of the water by tunnel to Kouris reservoir !

I thought that was a pumping station for the Kissonerga part of the "Paphos Irrigation Project"