Cyprus reservoirs cannot recover from the drought.
The Cyprus Department of Water Development has recorded a record weekly inflow of water into the island’s main reservoirs — 11.5 million cubic meters. According to the calculations of the Politis publication, this did not change the overall picture: the tanks are filled by only 19.8%. A year earlier, at the same time, the figure was almost twice as high: 75.4 million cubic meters, or 25.9% of the total capacity.
From February 9 to February 16, 11.5 million cubic meters of water entered the island’s large reservoirs, a record weekly figure. At the same time, the outflow amounted to a modest 0.8 million cubic meters. Nevertheless, the long-term deficit accumulated in previous dry seasons does not allow the water level to rise significantly.
None of the six largest dams — Kouris, Asprokremos, Kannaviou, Kalavassos, Dipotamos and Lefkara — is even half full.
Leaders and outsiders among large reservoirs
The best result among the six facilities was shown by Dipotamos: 21.7% with a weekly inflow of 3.3 million cubic meters. Lefkara, which held the first place with 34.7% a year ago, now holds only 12%.
Kuris— the largest reservoir on the island, contains 16.6 million cubic meters with an occupancy rate of 14.5%. During the week, it received 2.2 million cubic meters. Asprokremmos received the largest influx among the six facilities — 3 million cubic meters, and now holds 9.4 million cubic meters (18%).
Small dams did better. Cleeru and Pomos overflowed to 100% after the weekend rains, and Kalopanaiotis reached its maximum a few days earlier.
Half of the February precipitation fell in three days
In the last three days alone, the total inflow of water amounted to 9.2 million cubic meters — almost half went to the dams of the Southern Conveyor. Since the beginning of the year, reservoirs have already received 28.4 million cubic meters, which exceeds the total for the entire last season (18.6 million cubic meters) and the year before (24.7 million cubic meters).
According to the Meteorological Department, almost half of the February precipitation fell in three days. From February 1 to February 15, the average rainfall in the free territories of the republic reached 49.7 mm — 61% of the monthly norm. The highest rainfall was recorded in Platania (67.8 mm), Prodromos (63.2 mm) and Saittas (48 mm).
Nevertheless, the December failure — only 2.2 million cubic meters against 8.8 million a year earlier — created a deficit that the current rains have not yet compensated for.
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