Monday, February 08, 2010

Water, water everywhere... (in Cyprus, anyway)

As I type, it's pouring with rain. Again. It has been the most remarkably wet winter for Cyprus, and apparently the reservoirs are now at 50% capacity, which is very good indeed.

Yesterday it was officially announced that water restrictions have been lifted. This isn't exactly news to me, since we've had continual mains water for the past ten days or so. Nice to have it confirmed officially, although apparently some people are unhappy at the announcement, since people are likely to become more wasteful if they know we're no longer in a drought situation. I'm not sure why the official announcement makes any difference really, since people just seem to use water whenever it's on, washing their patios and pavements and even the street outside.

Still, it's good to know that we don't need to worry about water any more. The proposed price-hike won't be very popular, but then we've always felt that Cyprus water charges are far too low. We typically pay about 20-25 euros per quarter - yes, that's around 100 euros per year at MOST. That's considerably less than we paid in the UK for unmetered water. Even 30% on the bill won't make a huge amount of difference, and just might deter people who waste water, since prices at the greater consumption levels are significantly higher.

1 comment:

Steve Hayes said...

We've had lots of rain too, in the summer rainfall areas. And even, unseasonally, in the winter rainfall areas. Our dams are full!