Nicosia, Cyprus. Weekend rains lifted reservoir levels in Cyprus to 17.2%, but overall water reserves remain low and below last year’s levels, the Water Development Department said on Monday.
Reservoir levels rise but remain low
WDD engineer Marios Hadjicostis told the Cyprus News Agency that conditions had improved since Friday but that water levels remained low. He described the rain as “gold” for the dams and noted that reservoir levels stood at 9% on January 1, among the lowest recorded in recent years.
Following the rainfall, reservoirs reached 17.2% capacity, totaling 50 million cubic metres. This represents a 3.1 percentage point increase from Friday’s 14.1% level, or 41 million cubic metres.
Comparison with last year and rainfall shortfall
Hadjicostis said current reserves remained lower than during the same period last year, when dams were 26% full. He added that a two-day inflow of 9 million cubic metres was a positive development, though overall levels were still below last year’s low.
He said an additional 30 millimeters of rain would be needed this month to reach normal rainfall totals, but this was not indicated in the forecast. Average rainfall for February is 81.6 mm, while 50 mm has been recorded so far.
Mountain rainfall and outlook for the hydrological year
Hadjicostis said recent rainfall occurred mainly in mountainous areas, which contributes more substantially to reservoir supplies than rain in coastal areas or lowlands.
He expressed cautious optimism about the hydrological year, comparing the current inflow of 28.4 cubic metres with the total inflow of 32 million cubic metres recorded in Cyprus’ 10th worst year in 1995.
How concerned are you about Cyprus’ water reserves heading into the rest of the hydrological year?
