Paphos People

What are peoples thoughts on the water crisis ? You can see the stocks of water are terribly low HERE!!!

Right now the site says 9.2% of capacity against 21% last year. In actual figures there is 25MCM of water in the dams right now. Looking at last three years water collection/usage statistics suggest both domestic and agriculture both need approx 65MCM making the yearly water requirement at least 135MCM.

According to the stats approx 58% of the water used comes from dams, and the 16% from boreholes and 26% from desalination/recycling.

Of the water from the dams, over last three years 37% is treated for domestic use, 63% used in irrigation.

In theory this means to see us through this year we need at least 80MCM in the dams, if they cut irrigation back by 50% (keeping stuff alive but not fruiting heavily) then the required minimum value could reduce to around 50MCM without effecting domestic supply, if they managed to 50% cut on domestic and irrigation then maybe 40MCM would be "enough" for 12 months.

Statistics show 80% of the dam water is collected December-March and as we are nearly halfway through the wet season things are not looking good for all water users in Cyprus.

What do you feel about this pending water crisis ? Should the farmers fields suffer first ? Should the domestic swimming pools be emptied to top up the dams ? Should those that choose to have a garden be forced to let it die out ?

Looking at the forecast ahead there isn't much rain due either, so unless we get an exceptionally wet February then shortages appear inevitable.

It's a really tough call - restricting irrigation is going to have a big impact on the agricultural industry, but things like bans on filling pools would surely hit the tourist sector quite hard - no-one wants to pay a fortune to stay in a nice big villa then find they can't use the pool!

Similarly, if supplies start getting cut off during the day it's also likely to decrease the likelihood of visitors returning.

No easy answer as far as I can see.

The answer's surely one of two things:

1 The government is not wanting to declare a full-scale emergency until the election is well and truly out of the way. Plus of course, they don't want to deter summer holiday bookings (generally made in the first 2/3 months of the year).

Or, is it...

2 The government has a trick or two up it's sleeve and has absolute faith that we won't run out of water.

I'm more inclined to believe the former. But it begs the question, how can the government be so laid back about everything? Do the aquifers really contain that much water that they'll bail us out until more desalination plants come online? Lloyd

I think serious consideration has to be given to this in the long run and for the short term a summer saver solution has to be found.

I can forsee a reasonable increase in local taxes to provide a solution.

I agree it is a real worry.

I am pleased to see that Drain Tech include rainwater harvesting systems in their product range now.
http://www.draintechcyprus.com/style/be ... sting.html
Every little helps!

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Mike

... don't we need rain for that to work???

I'd much rather a way to recycle the 2 minutes of water that goes down the plughole everytime i want a shower!

i can't see that there's any chance of enough rain in the next six weeks, so i guess i'm going to be getting up early in the summer to top up pools before the water goes off.

it seems very negative to be talking about NOT filling pools, but there's rumours circulating that it happened in one region of france last year, as one mayor decreed that it was better to lose a few tourists than the irrigation for the farmers.

the difference here is that such a large percentage of the country's revenue comes from tourism, and to leave pools empty could cripple us for many years.

i forsee a hurried (eg expensive) desalination programme starting very soon...

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poolpeople
aka
the golden hi-lux
aka
zeusfc

zeusfc - yes, indeed - that does need rain.

When/if I build my own place, it will include grey water harvesting as well as rain water; and I shall be talking with Drain Tech about that, too. I am sure their rain water harvesting system could be adapted easily for grey water. I would want one of each system.

My design also includes careful underground siting of the water stores, as these can also serve as temperature regulators - providing cold water to help cool the house in the height of summer and warm it in winter (so long as there is a temperature difference, it is the amount of heat (energy) that matters, not so much the temperature).

Siting these stores also needs to bear in mind using the water afterwards - which you want to do by gravity feed rather than electric pump if possible. So, storage tank siting is a tricky equation, and varies a lot depending on the slope of your plot and the position of your property/garden on it.

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Mike

is anyone selling stuff to do grey water harvesting out here yet?

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poolpeople
aka
the golden hi-lux
aka
zeusfc

Mike,

You sound like you know what you want & most of it sounds very interesting, I'd also like to build my own property & include most of what you've stated here. I'd also like a generator & solar energy, so that I wouldn't have to rely on the electricity providers, and there no warning power cuts etc

I'd make sure I had enough solar panels on my roof, that you could see your reflection from the European Space station then get money off the government for selling power back to them well I think that's how it works but in a country like this, you shouldn't have to worry about water & electricity when you can be self sufficient

well when there is obviously not enough water in the dams as it stands to last until the next wet season then clamping down on all luxurious water usage must be top of the agenda.

Quite how this would be fairly done i have no idea . The decision on what to cut first is one for the top levels of the government as either end-user will be seriously effected by the cuts. I would be seriously put out if the domestic/tourist water supply was cut in any shape of form before the supply to the irrigation network was severly cut back, but then the farmers will have the right arm pit when all the tourist villas are enjoying their gardens and pools as their livelyhood dries to a bone.

On a related note, what i noticed earlier today seriously pee'd me of. There is a new development of 6+ house up the road. The kurbs, water & sewer pipes were all installed a few months back. The houses are currently being bricked+rendered. The water supply they are using is the domestic drinking water supply which has been already fitted along the road and then each future customr supply point (ie where the meter for each house will go) has just be left as a "live" tap .. so the builder's are able to use water freely, literally as there are no meters fitted anyway !

a large upfront outlay and then trying to get the government grant back afterwards ...

Mikes ideas on domestic grey water recycling and rain collection are sound ... all great to add to the pre-build feature list, but after market is seriously difficult to implement without major works.

When the countries Water Department knows of its lack of water supply problems, and the Planning Department surely calculate for each house they green light will need xx cu.m per year of water ... you would have thought/hoped that these two department would be talking so that suitable solutions are enforced at each new build and suitable water supplies are ensured before crisis arrives.

Like Lloyd said earlier maybe they have a trick up their sleeves !

Well I did read somewhere that some guy was planning to pipe water over from Turkey to the Northern half of Cyprus & maybe sell it to the Southern half.. so maybe that's the trick up the sleeve

Alas Pete, that idea has long since been abandoned as being impractical. As has shipping the water in by boat (they realised they don't have a hosepipe long enough to stretch from Limassol port to the reservoirs )

Looks like some rain forecast for the end of this week:

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/17600.html

Lloyd

Weren't they also towing them over in large balloons until they found out that they were actually losing more by drift wood bursting them on the way over

i love the impractical solutions... look at dubai... b*gger all rain, yet it's as green as a paddy on st paddy's day! desalination is the only way to go, and with the melting ice caps, the more we "desalinate" the better it is for the planet!

the only drawback is the initial cost, but compared to thousands of barges bringing us water, it actually works out comparatively cheap.

and with so much sea-salt left after the process, we could sell it to the UK to use on their roads!

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poolpeople
aka
the golden hi-lux
aka
zeusfc