Saving Cyprus’s water
“Water is precious and we’ve got to realise that water’s not always there. You need to save it,” says The Cyprus Informer
When we wake up we will have to use timers to take two minute showers, and collect the water in buckets so it can be re-used in the garden.
“You can’t wash your car, you can only clean your windscreen and wing mirrors and side windows. It’s a daily impact really.”
For decades, residents of Cyprus have been used to freely topping up the family swimming pool and hosing their paths to keep them clean and gardens to keep them green.
Drought has been the barbecue conversation of expats for the past two or three years.
But nearly 90% of Cyprus’s population now live in towns, and the dams simply cannot keep up with demand.
Drought is just one indicator of longer term climate change in Cyprus, making what is already the most arid region on the planet even hotter and drier.
“Not only are we getting less rainfall, but the soils have warmed up, which means any rain that does fall is more likely to evaporate.”
The drought has sharply focused minds on water use and supply. Managing urban water is about both reducing demand and finding new water supplies.
Desalination plants are already on the increase, but Cyprus must also use groundwater systems innovatively as underground dams that can be artificially refilled when water is in surplus”. Such technological solutions require significant investment, so water prices are predicted to double in the next few years.
Watering the garden has become a sensitive issue. “Water has been too cheap, people have to learn to appreciate its real value”
But that means better monitoring of water use; for example, controlling the spread of private boreholes and encouraging smarter irrigation systems.
“The interesting thing is that the population actually adapts quite quickly. If everyone thinks everyone else is suffering under the same restrictions, they’ll happily do it and become quite proud and innovative, so I think we shouldn’t be squeamish putting regulations in place.”
It has become socially unacceptable to be seen using too much water so the challenge becomes, OK, what can I glean from my washing machine?”
“When climate change begins to impact on water supplies, it does so in a far more rapid and dramatic manner than any of the experts ever predicted. That’s why everyone must be proactive,”
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