Rainfall was beneficial so far and resulted in the fourth best dams’ inflow of the decade but the situation with water reserves remains marginal, there is no water security and citizens are urged to be careful in their consumption, Senior Official at the Water Development Department, Yianna Economidou, told the Cyprus News Agency
She noted that the rain of recent days has brought a very significant boost to Cyprus’ reservoirs. In particular in the last three days the inflow amounted to 12.3 million cubic meters which is described as the largest three-day inflow of water recorded since January 2020.
Dams capacity Monday amounted to around 26.9%.
Economidou said that for the first time this year we have exceeded last year’s corresponding day when the capacity reached 24.7%.
Since the beginning of the hydrological year the total inflow reached 59.8 million cubic meters, which is significantly improved, compared to previous years, the WDD official said.
Today the Arminou dam overflowed, in addition to other small dams namely Xyliatos, Argaka, Pomos, Kalopanayiotis, Klirou, Solea and Lymbia.
She noted, however, that despite the significant improvement, the reserves are below 1/3 of the total capacity of the dams and “we cannot say that we have overcome the danger.”
She added that WDD is being cautious as its goal is not to safeguard water sufficiency for 2027 and 2028 as well.
Economidou explained that rainfall in the coming weeks until the end of April is decisive for the further assessment of the situation, which will take into account the drought management plans to determine the maximum permitted pumping from each dam.
She also said that the effort for water sufficiency is collective and therefore citizens must continue prudent, responsible water consumption and the District Local Government Organizations must continue their works in order to reduce losses in their networks.
Asked about pubic criticism that the water that overflows in specific dams is lost water, Economidou explained that it enriches the underground aquifers.
Regarding the Arminou dam, she said that since the beginning of the hydrological year water was transferred from Arminou to Kourris dam, feeding the southern pipeline with a quantity of water corresponding to twice the capacity of the dam itself.
According to figures from the Meteorology Department the average rainfall on Monday reached 149% of the normal rainfall.
Specifically 92.4 millimeters of rainfall were recorded until March 23, which reaches 149% of normal for the month.
Of these quantities, 37.3 millimeters were recorded in the last three days.
