Reservoir levels rise to 35.1% after rainfall

Reservoir levels in Cyprus have increased to 35.1 per cent due to recent rainfall, amounting to 101.9 million cubic metres of water, which is over three times last year’s capacity. At the same time last year, the levels had reached 10.7 per cent capacity, or 31.3 million cubic metres. Approximately 220,000 cubic metres of water flowed into the reservoirs on Thursday alone. Water development department executive engineer Alexios Frangeskou said the largest inflows occurred at the Kouris and Arminou reservoirs. Additional inflows were noted at reservoirs that are supplied by the southern conveyor project, which is mainly located in the Limassol and Larnaca districts, as well as at Asprokremmos and Evretou reservoirs. Frangeskou said the inflows were encouraging for this time of the hydrological year, but they were not sufficient to make a significant change to the overall water balance. He warned that reservoirs were still only about one-third full and that there should be no complacency. Continued rainfall, especially during the winter months, could lead to further inflows, he pointed out. Last year, water started entering reservoirs much later because the catchment areas had nearly dried out. In the meantime, water development department projects are ongoing, with the mobile desalination unit at Episkopi expected to become operational soon. The department also intends to initiate tenders for several other major projects, according to Frangeskou.