The Mavrokolymbos reservoir was to be completely drained by Thursday or Friday, according to the agriculture ministry while the Paphos district authority is calling for the construction of two new dams.

Ministry director general Andreas Gregoriou said the reservoir is to be emptied of its collected 1.3 million m3 volume of rainwater which will be channelled into the sea.

The evacuation gate will be opened to facilitate the process, which will also get rid of the sludge, he said.
It is not possible to estimate the time it will take to repair the dam, the official said.

The farmlands which had been supplied with water from Mavrokolymbos are now to be covered by the Asprokremmos reservoir.

Earlier Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou had said the dam would be emptied by Friday and that every effort was being made to provide uninterrupted water supply and to actively support farmers in the aftermath of the incident.

Efforts are now focused on repairing the damage to the dam’s discharge tunnel vent believed to be the cause of the massive leak over the weekend.

Meanwhile, head of the Paphos district administration (Eoa) Charalambos Pittokopitis, called for the construction of two additional dams in Paphos, for which studies had been conducted in the 1990s.

One concerns a proposed dam on the Diarizos River, near the village of Souskiou, and the second on the Ezousa River, near Episkopi, Pittokopitis detailed to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).

The projects would contribute greatly to water security in the district, he said, as construction of these dams would increase supply of both drinking and irrigation water, he said.

The loss of the Mavrokolympos reserve has worsened an already dire situation for Paphos farmers, Pittokopitis reiterated, coming on the heels of a fire at a desalination plant, and during a period of prolonged drought.