Technical difficulties which were challenging to diagnose, were the reason Lageia village was left without water for over a week, Deputy Mayor Areti Miltiadou said on Friday.

Residents had earlier told the Cyprus Mail they had found themselves without water for the eighth day in a row, leaving authorities seemingly fumbling for an effective response.

Miltiadou clarified that the problem turned out to be due to a faulty water tank float combined with insufficient water being pumped to the village’s central reservoir, which she said was a “double whammy”.

Residents in the lower village were finally again receiving some water, while a tanker had been deployed to make stops at houses in the upper village where water could not reach due to pressure problems, she said.

The deputy mayor added that since the restructuring of local government, she was no longer officially responsible for the village’s water supply (as she had been previously as mukhtar).

However, she said the water development service of the new Larnaca district self-governance organisation (Eoal) had responded promptly to her calls and a plumber had been dispatched straight away.

In her previous role she had handled multiple leaks and faults to pipes promptly, she added, with a phone call to the same plumber and these had always been handled within hours.

“I have no complaints against the EOA or the water board, they acted as best they could,” Miltiadou said.

Long-time resident Deborah Graham told the Cyprus Mail that the situation had been unbearable, particularly during last week’s heatwave.

“We were using wet wipes, and water from the swimming pool to flush our toilets, we are going through bottled water like mad,” she said.

There has been no sign of water tankers she said, despite requests, and residents felt they were being passed around from one authority to another.

Lageia, a small village with 28 full-time residents nestled in the mountains a few kilometres from Lefkara, has recently found itself under Lefkara Municipality control following the new local government re-structure.

“We had sporadic stoppages for the first four days, and for the last four days not a single drop,” another long-time resident said.

The residents apparently received no prior warning of the outage and no communication from the Larnaca water board.

Cyprus Mail earliercontacted the newly installed mayor of Lefkara Sophocles Sophocleous who was not available, but a municipality official said the matter was “not for the municipality, but for the water board” to resolve.

“They sent us from the deputy mayor to the Lefkara mayor, to the water board – which is not answering phone calls,” an exasperated resident said. “How can this be happening in an EU country in 2024?”

“Our tanks are empty, some of us are gathering at an unrented apartment which still has a partially full tank to bathe,” Graham had said.

Other residents complained about the impact of the prolonged water cut to their livelihoods during the tourist season in this “Heartland of Legends” village.

“We are very worried about fire hazard,” one resident said. “Three years ago, the village had to be evacuated due to fires. God forbid there should be a fire now!” she said.

Firefighters at an outpost on a hill nearby had been unaware that the village was without water, the resident claimed. During firefighting operations, the village relies on water supply from a central hydrant.

Former mukhtars in other rural villages have expressed reservations as to the new consolidated municipalities’ capabilities to promptly address immediate needs of residents.

Despite the publicly touted leap in efficiency, mukhtars had argued that, on the contrary, cumbersome procedures would soon replace the effectiveness of a village leader having direct access for fast emergency responses.

Residents of Lageia said the current situation of such a prolonged water outage in the village was unprecedented in at least 20 years.