The lowest we can recall the Kouris Reservoir getting, back in 2018, was 7.5%. Apparently, if it gets below 5% it stops working. You can read the discussion we had at the time on our Paphos Life Forum. So you can see, water shortages are nothing new. However, with ever more buildings going up, and population on the increase, more water is an obvious requirement. So where is it going to come from?

This topic came up in another Forum Thread regarding water levels. The above map was posted due to a discussion on the existing pipe network. But if you look, it also shows a green line which is presumably a proposed route. Along this green line, near Peyia, you can see that two new reservoirs are marked: Agios Georgios Reservoir, and Pegeia Reservoir. The former would presumably fill up the gorge that runs next to the Moundiko Nature Trail and ends at White River Beach. The latter would be somewhere between Peyia and Akoursos. Other than this map though, I have heard nothing about any proposals.

In addition to dams, there is the option of constructing desalination plants. Given that Cyprus is an island, this would seem an obvious, though expensive solution. There is an existing plant, near Paphos Airport. For various reasons, it was decommisioned a few years ago, but now it is up and running again.

Of course, there is also the option of improved water conservation. This is culturally difficult in Cyprus though. If it isn't the local population wasting it by giving the road a daily hosedown, it is the immigrant needlessly topping up their swimming pool or overusing an irrigation system to keep inappropriate vegetation alive.

And then there is all the building work. All the new properties will require a decent water supply. Is this taken into account when planning permission is granted? Who knows...

This shot shows the other end of Kouris Reservoir, as it appears today. If you look carefully, about a quarter of the way down, and a third from the left there is a chapel. It is normally above the waterline, but when the Kouris is nearly full, the church gets submerged, apart from its steeple. Then, when the waters inevitably drop, and the chapel re-emerges, a big thing about the "appearing church" is made in the press. This always annoys me, for some reason. But there you go...

This is more or less the same scene back in 2016, when the waters were much lower.

If you look really hard you can just see the steeple in this shot, when the reservoir was full.

So, to summarise, the reservoirs are low, though they have been lower in the past. If we have the same rainfall this winter that we did last, we will be in a lot of trouble. We need to find solutions. These should be a mix of more reservoirs and desalination plants. However, these won't be up and running for next year, so in the meantime we need to look at better conservation of existing stocks. We cannot just rely on the hope of rain. If current weather patterns continue, a really wet winter isn't due until the winter of 2025, which will be too late.