Nicosia: Weekend rainfall has provided a much-needed boost to the dam levels in Cyprus, as reported by Marios Hadjicostis, a technical engineer at the Water Development Department.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Hadjicostis shared that the recent rain was beneficial in terms of both quantity and intensity, resulting in an inflow of 9.2 million cubic meters of water over the weekend.
The influx of water has led to the overflow of the Klirou and Pomos Dams, both now at full capacity. The Kalopanayiotis Dam had also previously reached capacity. Despite these improvements, the overall water situation remains below last year's levels. As of the latest update, water reserves have increased from 41 million cubic meters to 50 million cubic meters, with the fill rate rising from 14.1% to 17.2%. This is still significantly lower than last year's fill rate of 25.9% on the same date.
Hadjicostis highlighted that the start of the year saw the lowest capacity rates in recent years, drawing parallels with 2008, a year plagued by severe drought. Over the three-day period, 23.4 millimeters of rainfall were recorded, primarily in mountainous regions, which are crucial for dam inflows. However, this figure falls short of the February norm of 81.6 millimeters. Current projections suggest that reaching normal rainfall levels is unlikely.
The engineer emphasized that a 17% fill rate is unsustainable, prompting the exploration of additional solutions, such as the development of new desalination units in the future. The reduced water capacity is impacting the environment, regional biodiversity, and community wells. Despite the challenges, Hadjicostis expressed cautious optimism about the hydrological year, noting that the current inflow of 28.4 million cubic meters is close to surpassing the inflow from the tenth driest year on record, 1995-1996.
Recent records indicate the total dam capacity is 290.804 million cubic meters, with an overall fill rate of 17.2%. The Achna Dam has the lowest fill rate at 1.9%, followed by the Germasogeia Dam at 7.1% and the Kalavasos Dam at 8.1%. The largest dam, Kourris, is at 14.5% capacity, while Asprokremmos and Evretou Dams stand at 18.0% and 21.3%, respectively.