‘It will be a great environmental disaster’: Mazotos residents fight to save coastline as desalination plant gets green light

Local environmentLarnacaTop News ‘It will be a great environmental disaster’: Mazotos residents fight to save coastline as desalination plant gets green light Mazotos 2 Relevant News ‘It will be a great environmental disaster’: Mazotos residents fight to save coastline as desalination plant gets green light 10 June 2026 GHS patients paying €20-plus drug co-payments for fifth month with no quick fix in sight 10 June 2026 Cabinet throws farmers a lifeline with 3.5 million cubic metres of extra irrigation water 10 June 2026 Stelios Marathovouniotis 10 June 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Residents of Mazotos took to the streets to protest plans to build an €85 million desalination plant on their coastline. Alongside, they have commissioned an independent marine biology assessment and have appointed a lawyer who filed a court application for a suspension of works. They say they will not stop. “It will be a great environmental disaster,” one local resident told en.philenews by phone. “The unit could have been constructed at Moni. Our area is pristine. There is no road, no construction. We go diving, tourists come, people come from Nicosia to enjoy the area. The sea will be polluted. We swim there.” She added that the environmental study had been “rushed to prove there would be no environmental impact.” A second local resident wrote to en.philenews raising concerns about specific passages in the official study — in particular its description of the site as “within an anthropogenically and already ecologically disturbed environment” and its characterisation of the seabed at the discharge point as consisting of sediments “without particular biodiversity.” Both characterisations are disputed by independent experts. The plant, designated an urgent national priority to address Cyprus’s water crisis, received environmental approval on April 8 — just 16 days after the Water Development Department submitted the project information. It is expected to be operational by December 2026, initially producing 20,000 cubic metres of drinking water per day, expandable to 40,000 cubic metres, and is designed to operate for seven years at a cost of €85 million. Critics — including a senior environmental expert, a marine biology research laboratory, the EAC’s union, and the Mazotos Community Council — have raised questions about the speed of the approval, the accuracy of the environmental study, the choice of site, and whether a pristine coastline is being sacrificed for a project that could have been built elsewhere. Community opposition Residents gathered in protest in January, carrying banners reading “We demand environmental protection” and “Without studies, without consultation, no to the dictatorship and amateurism of the government — are we third-class citizens?” Community leader Georgios Demetriou told Phileleftheros the council was not satisfied with the environmental studies carried out. “We consider the environmental studies they conducted to be rushed. As experts explained to us, proper studies cannot be done in such a short period of time,” he said. He added that the community would be sending the Agriculture Minister an independent private company study showing that the environment will be affected. Demetriou said his own expert had warned him that the submarine pipes to be laid at sea would destroy many Posidonia meadows — the seagrass beds that line the seabed in the area and are considered among the most important marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean. Residents do not consent to the installation of the desalination unit, he said. The council has also set out its position on compensation: it will not discuss the matter unless proper environmental and public health studies are first carried out. “If there is compensation but the area is destroyed, what use is it to us? The compensation we are seeking relates to the designation of the area as a tourist zone, so that nothing else can be brought to the area. We will agree to discuss compensation only if we have the correct environmental studies,” Demetriou said. Since the January protest, residents have escalated their campaign. The community council filed a court application for a suspension of works and is awaiting a hearing. A council member told en.philenews the desalination unit would primarily serve the tourist industry in Famagusta rather than the local Larnaca community, and questioned why the government had not chosen Vasiliko — an already industrialised area — as an alternative site. ‘What exactly is mobile?’ The plant is officially described as a mobile unit — a characterisation challenged by Xenia Loizidou, Chairperson of the Board of Directors at AKTI Project and Research Centre, in a detailed assessment published on Earth Day 2026. The infrastructure planned includes concrete bases, eight container-type reverse osmosis processing units, underground storage tanks, four metal substation buildings, a 3.7-kilometre land pipeline, and submarine pipes stretching 780 metres for water intake and 470 metres for brine discharge. The Environmental Authority’s own conclusions document confirms the submarine pipes will not be removed at the end of the seven-year operational period. “What exactly is mobile?” Loizidou asked. “There will be massive concrete foundations, prefabricated units, substations, multi-layer filters, metal tanks. Roads will be opened and kilometres of excavations will take place on land and at sea.” ‘One of the few areas in Cyprus without human intervention’ At the heart of the controversy is how the official environmental study characterises the site. The study describes the installation area as being “within an anthropogenically and already ecologically disturbed environment.” Loizidou rejected that. “No relation to reality,” she wrote. “Look at the map. One of the few areas in Cyprus without human intervention.” The study also describes the seabed at the discharge point as consisting “mainly of sandy and sandy-silty sediments, without particular biodiversity.” Loizidou and local residents dispute this, pointing to photographs showing darker colouration of shallow water along the cliff base consistent with the presence of seagrass or algae on hard substrate, as well as rocky outcrops visible just below the waterline. Kyriakos Tafounas, head of the EAC union, told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) the government “will construct a desalination unit at Mazotos with a private company, to which they will grant state land and €85 million to build the facility on virgin land.” The brine risk The Marine and Environmental Research (MER) Lab, in its preliminary assessment dated April 27, 2026, signed by Director Dr. Dimitris Kleitou, warned that the brine discharge process produces approximately 1.5 litres of brine per litre of drinking water produced, causing increased salinity, temperature and pH changes, and the introduction of heavy metals and chemicals into the marine environment. Due to its high density, brine accumulates near the seabed, particularly affecting benthic organisms. Posidonia oceanica meadows are “particularly sensitive,” the laboratory stated, showing reduced photosynthetic performance, increased oxidative stress and necrosis — “as has been recorded in areas of Cyprus, Larnaca and Dhekelia.” MER Lab described its assessment as preliminary and said it was planning site visits to form a more comprehensive scientific opinion. Why not Vasiliko? The EAC proposed as far back as 2018 building a large desalination plant at Moni with a capacity of 60,000 cubic metres per day and expanding the existing facility at Vasiliko. Those proposals were not pursued. The government’s own planning for 2026-2027 includes a mobile desalination unit at Vasiliko — raising the question of why Vasiliko was not considered for this project instead of Mazotos. Government response Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou defended the handling of the project, saying desalination units are a necessity to ensure adequate water for households, businesses and the economy. She said the siting of the unit at Mazotos had been evaluated by the Environmental Authority, which approved its installation and operation subject to specific environmental conditions. “The purpose of the project is the processing of seawater for the production of drinking water, strengthening the country’s water security, resilience against the effects of climate change and ensuring adequate and quality water supply for citizens,” she said. Panayiotou said she understood the concerns expressed and considered it “entirely legitimate for there to be public dialogue around projects that concern the environment and local communities.” She said all relevant studies had been sent to the local authority in the framework of transparency, that the government had asked for questions to be submitted so that substantiated answers could be given, and had expressed readiness to publicly brief residents on all aspects of the project. On environmental safeguards, she said: “The Environmental Authority’s decision is accompanied by specific environmental conditions, protection measures and continuous monitoring procedures, to ensure the protection of the marine and natural environment throughout the operation of the unit. Our goal is to proceed with responsibility, transparency and respect for the environment and local communities, while securing a vital resource for the future of our country.” Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News GHS patients paying €20-plus drug co-payments for fifth month with no quick fix in sight Cabinet throws farmers a lifeline with 3.5 million cubic metres of extra irrigation water Things to do on Wednesday, June 10 Mainly sunny with afternoon storms in the mountains through the weekend Iran hits Fifth Fleet in Bahrain as US restarts attacks Cyprus must do more for isolated elderly, welfare body says after woman found dead in flat Freedom of expression cannot become cover for defamation and misinformation, says Costas Cleanthous Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.