The government’s financial watchdog on Tuesday slammed the Water Development Department (WDD) hard over its lax checks of water usage and its ongoing failure to properly invoice for water consumption.

In a damning report – the third published this year relating to the management of water resources – the Audit Office flagged a series of glaring irregularities at the WDD, at a time when the island’s dams are almost empty due to the protracted drought.

The findings zoomed in on the department’s inexplicable failure to keep tabs on water consumption at various points across the water grid.

For example, at two locations – Stavrovouni and Tersefanou – where water from the dams enters the grid, the WDD did not conduct regular checks of the water meters. The two entry points in question account for 64 per cent of water consumption in Nicosia district.

In addition, the WDD had no access to the water meters of the Limassol water board, nor access to the telemetry system of the Larnaca water board. As a result, it was not possible to authenticate the amounts of water being invoiced.

The report paid a great deal of attention to water allocations to two private companies in Limassol. It remarked that the WDD was being exceedingly lenient on the two companies despite their continuous over-use of water from boreholes.

The situation is such that it threatens the adequacy of the water table in the surrounding region, the Audit Office said.

Without naming the two companies, the report said they are located and operate in the village of Monagroulli, Limassol district. The companies would use the water for their crops.

Despite these companies over-pumping from local boreholes, the WDD took virtually no action.

When the WDD did finally get around to taking legal action against one of the two companies, the court imposed meager fines – €400 and €2,000.

In the second case, with the €2,000 fine, the court attributed the lenient penalty to the fact that the defendant had a clean record.

But clearly this was not true, said the Audit Office. Apparently the WDD had failed to alert the court to the prior case where the same company had got fined €400.

Beyond this, the auditor-general said, the two companies seem to be getting preferential treatment.

Additionally to using boreholes, and going over their water allocations, the companies get water from the reservoir at Lefkara – 200,000 cubic metres a year.

This has been going on since 2012, with the WDD never bothering to reassess the amounts allocated to the two companies.

From 2018 to 2023, the two businesses drew anywhere from 28 to 41 per cent of the total quantities of water consumed by the Lefkara sub-grid.

This disproportionate allocation of water for irrigation points to preferential treatment, the report noted.

Another major issue flagged is how slack the WDD is with collecting on dues. At the end of 2025, amounts receivable – for water usage for both normal supply and irrigation – came to €106.8 million.

And this number did not even include the water allocated to Turkish Cypriots in communities bordering the buffer zone.

For the arrears, the WDD belatedly took legal action against certain municipalities in the Nicosia, Larnaca and Famagusta districts. It took no action against communities behind on their payments in the Limassol and Paphos districts.

As at the end of 2023, the amounts receivable for water supplied to Turkish Cypriots came to €58.1 million.

It turns out that this water is not invoiced, per a standing political decision. In September 2016 the WDD queried the foreign ministry about this, seeking guidance. Up until January 2025, the foreign ministry had not replied.

Elsewhere the Audit Office report highlighted wasteful spending at the WDD, focusing on the case of a mobile desalination unit that cost €20 million.

The unit at Kouklia, Paphos district, operated for just a few months – November 2010 to April 2011 – before it was decommissioned. Authorities said its continued use was unnecessary.

And after the unit’s decommissioning, the equipment – costing millions – was dumped in nearby fields.

Lastly the report noted financial shenanigans at the WDD, such as a case where personnel were using their private cars and then billing the department for travel expenses.

This was based on a complaint filed in October 2023. Two employees working at the WDD’s Larnaca branch were using their private cars for work-related transportation, even though the local branch had four service vehicles available at the time.