Desalination plants will work on a continuous basis to help relieve the pressure on the island’s dams and provide farmers with water, Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou said on Sunday

Until now the plants operations have been dependent on weather conditions.

Drought cycles are more frequent, she said, but stressed the ministry has implemented a 28-point programme to deal with drier conditions. But this “will be a difficult summer,” she added.

The aim of the Water Development Department is to have a continual water supply while last year farmers were subject to water cuts. Panayiotou said this was balanced by subsidising them to better manage supplies.

The availability of water is set to be less than last year as it is the second dry year in a row.

Desalination plants were only turned on when there was a need. “This is now stopping. On my instructions it is something that comes to an end, because we cannot put further pressure on the dams. Using desalination occasionally means getting water from the dams we give to our farmers. This stops.

“Desalination plants will be used continuously, regardless of weather conditions, to satisfy us 100 per cent, with the implementation of the action plan we have explained, so that there are sufficient quantities in the dams for our farmers,” she continued.

She said efforts are also underway to employ mobile desalination plants.

“The state is doing everything possible, but it needs the cooperation of both local authorities and citizens,” she said calling on people to use water sparingly. “It’s a precious commodity, we need to stop wasting it”.