Water reserves drained due to political decisions, Audit Office report finds

Cyprus depleted critical water reserves through political decisions between 2017 and 2023, forcing the government to seek emergency desalination assistance from the United Arab Emirates to survive this summer, an Audit Office report has revealed.

The Audit Office report, which examined the Water Development Department (WDD) and Environment Department’s adaptation of water resource management to climate change, found that 2020 marked the peak of excessive extraction from reservoirs.

According to the report, approved and consumed water quantities from the Southern Conveyor system consistently exceeded drought-based indicator limits. In 2020 alone, extraction surpassed recommended levels by 39 million cubic metres.

“Although 2020 was considered a rainy year, we believe that both the proposal for water extraction and the Cabinet approval should have remained within the framework of established indicators, given that subsequent years might be characterised by drought,” the report stated.

Excessive extraction continued in the following years, with consumption exceeding recommended levels by 7.6 million cubic metres in 2021, 3.3 million in 2022, and 2.8 million in 2023.

Similar but less severe excesses occurred in the Paphos Project reservoirs, where 10.7 million cubic metres were over-extracted during 2017-2018. The report noted this volume exceeds the annual production capacity of the Paphos desalination plant, which was later destroyed by fire.

Auditor General Andreas Papaconstantinou noted that “historically, the Republic of Cyprus appears to operate more reactively than preventively, risking higher economic costs and greater environmental burden”.

The audit also identified problems with the Vasiliko desalination plant, where much of the produced water ends up either at treatment facilities or used for irrigation purposes due to inadequate drinking water transport infrastructure.

“The WDD agreed to purchase water from the unit before constructing the necessary network to transport drinking water to the supply networks,” the report found.

Major systemic issues identified

The audit, based on studies and reports from relevant departments and the EU, revealed several critical water management issues:

• No unified water pricing policy exists
• Water supply cost recovery is very low, while demand increased 14.8% between 2019 and 2023 (+3.5% annually)
• Crops are not adapting to less water-intensive varieties
• Significant water losses occur due to weakened infrastructure
• Desalination plants operate on conventional fuels at increased cost
• Recycled water utilisation remains limited due to infrastructure gaps, with only 52.3% of capacity utilised in 2023
• Not all communities are connected to wastewater treatment plants, nor are all households connected to sewage systems
• Monitoring of water extraction permits and boreholes is inadequate
• The implementation rate of infrastructure projects worth €1.2 billion is low

Agricultural and climate challenges

The report highlights several concerning agricultural and climate-related findings:

• Only 24% of agricultural land can be irrigated, with the remaining 76% relying exclusively on rainfall
• Irrigation needs are mostly met by private boreholes (73%), with the remainder from Government Water Projects
• Between 1971-2000, an estimated 86% of rainfall returned to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration
• Salinisation affects seven of 22 underground water systems due to seawater intrusion
• River flow in the Troodos region is projected to decrease by 14-30% when rainfall decreases by 6-15%
• Average annual inflow to dams is expected to decrease by 23% (2021-2050 compared to 1971-2000), despite a smaller estimated rainfall reduction (5%)
• Surface and underground water bodies show medium to very high quality degradation
• Water bodies already in poor condition are more vulnerable to climate change impacts
• Crops such as tomatoes, vines and olives face increasing vulnerability due to their summer growth cycles
• Winter crops, including potatoes, barley and wheat, will experience significant impacts from rainfall deficits

The report acknowledges that infrastructure projects have been promoted over time, but notes that prudent policies considering Cyprus’s frequent drought periods were not consistently followed.