There was a little insert with the bill, with Greek on one side and English on the other. Presumably saying the same thing - the English is very formal, but then official Greek does tend to be formal, so I guess it's a direct translation. It's an official announcement from the Water Board of Larnaka. It says:
Dear Customers,
Due to prolonged drought period in Cyprus, the balance between the available water supply and actual demand was pushed to its limits and hence the available quantities of water are not enough to fully cater for our needs until the end of 2007. It is, therefore, required by all of us to take all necessary measures to save water and avoid its irrational waste.
To safeguard against water waste the Water Board of Larnaca is obliged to enforce the requirements of the Water Saving (Special Measures) Law. In accordance with the Law, the use of hose for cleaning cars, pavements, roads, verandas or fences is strictly prohibited. Anyone who violates the Law is guilty of criminal offence and, in case of conviction, can be sentenced to a maximum of three month imprisonment or to a maximum penalty of three hundred pounds or both punishments. Extrajudicially such an offence can be settled with the payment of a £30 fine to the Board, which is expected to increase to £50.
We expect all citizens to contribute towards water saving, otherwise there will soon become a necessity to enforce water restriction measures.
The silly thing is, this law has been in force - supposedly - since the start of the year. Does anyone take any notice? Nope. Well, they do avoid using their hoses during the busy parts of the day, but most people in our neighbourhood use hoses to wash their cars and verandas (yes, and even the pavement outside) during the early hours of the day, or on Sundays, when of course the police and water board won't be working....
I really hope we don't end up with water restrictions again (when we moved here nearly ten years ago, the mains water was only switched on twice per week - the rest of the time we had to rely on our tanks) but I'm beginning to see why they had to restrict water. People in Cyprus just don't seem to care.
1 comment:
Have you caught the time when we had to put stones in the toilet tanks? :)
And if you think Cypriots don't care about water, come look around in the Middle East. People here behave as if they live in the delta of Amazon river.
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