Cyprus reservoirs rise to 35.1 per cent after recent rain

Nicosia, Cyprus. Recent rainfall has raised the island’s reservoir storage to 35.1 per cent, equal to 101.9 million cubic metres of water and more than triple the volume recorded a year earlier.

Comparison with last year

At this point last year, reservoirs stood at 10.7 per cent, or 31.3 million cubic metres. Water began flowing into them much later in that period because the catchment areas had almost dried out.

Inflows on Thursday

Around 220,000 cubic metres of water entered the reservoirs on Thursday alone. Alexios Frangeskou, executive engineer at the water development department, said the biggest inflows were recorded at the Kouris and Arminou reservoirs.

Further inflows were noted at the reservoirs served by the southern conveyor project, which lies mainly in the Limassol and Larnaca districts, and at Asprokremmos and Evretou.

Cautious assessment

Frangeskou described the inflows as encouraging for this stage of the hydrological year. He said, however, that they were not enough to bring a significant change to the overall water balance.

He warned that reservoirs remain only about one-third full and that there must be no complacency. He added that further rain, particularly in the winter months, could bring more inflows.

Ongoing projects

Meanwhile, water development department projects continue. The mobile desalination unit at Episkopi is expected to start operating soon.