Water diplomacy
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by roseandchan » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:18 am
in the evening oracle when i check our chlorine levels it shows clear, so the birds are ok. chlorine goes in and cover on until the next day.
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by psycho » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:37 am
Tim Drayton wrote:What scares me a little is that the first tanker bearing water from Greece is still moored off Yermasoyia and they appear not to have managed to unload it yet. According to the news, this is because the pipes need to be slightly longer. Does anybody know what the latest state of play is?
If they leave it any longer the water will become stagnant !
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Just heard on the radio its going to be another week......apparently the pipeline is now too short!!! 
by Tim Drayton » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:15 pm
BOF wrote:8) Just heard on the radio its going to be another week......apparently the pipeline is now too short!!!
BOF
I have heard that the sea is too wet!
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by Nikitas » Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:17 am
The pipe people are an Israeli company who are world class experts on pipes. The Greek speakers will find the whole reference to pipes funny, but that is another story.
The chief of the pipe company in a RIK interview said they are bang on schedule. The chief of the tanker company said it is better to have the ship waiting and in the end the water will be unloaded faster this way. Had the loading been delayed till after the pipe thing then it would add nine days to the whole project.
The chief of the pipe company in a RIK interview said they are bang on schedule. The chief of the tanker company said it is better to have the ship waiting and in the end the water will be unloaded faster this way. Had the loading been delayed till after the pipe thing then it would add nine days to the whole project.
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by Tim Drayton » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:47 pm
From today's Cyprus Mail:
Greek water to be dumped
By Alexia Saoulli
THE FIRST shipment of water from Greece is to be dumped on land as it is not suitable for consumption, the Agriculture Minister said yesterday.
The water has sat in a tanker off the coast of Limassol for over two weeks and was due to be pumped into Limassol’s water network today. However, it has been deemed unsuitable for consumption and will be dumped into the ground, where minister Michalis Polynikis rather euphemistically said it would “enrich” Yermasoyia’s underground water supply.
The idea is that the water will end up in boreholes and from there supply homes.
The development has come as a huge blow to Limassol’s Water Board as the town’s water supply is dangerously low and its consumers are already surviving on very little water. Five villages have already resorted to bottled water.
Tests carried out by the state laboratory earlier in the day established the quality of water onboard the Westama tanker had been slightly altered due to its excessive chlorination in recent days, Polynikis said. This has also led to the water emitting a bad odour, according to an Agriculture Ministry announcement.
“There is an increase in the levels of chlorination by-products but which remained within acceptable limits, while the general chromatographic profile of the water’s organic compounds was slightly altered compared to the profile samples of July 1, 2008,” the minister said.
Polynikis’ almost laughable effort to gloss over what is clearly the latest in a series of embarrassing blunders in handling the island’s water problem was made from Brussels, where he is attending the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers.
Fears that the drinking water would prove unusable were raised two weeks ago shortly after the water first arrived in Limassol. As the water arrived before pipes to pump it into the Limassol supply were completed, it was forced to lie stagnant inside the tanker.
The decision to empty it on to the land was made by the Water Development Board. Health Minister Christos Patsallides stressed that this was purely a preventative measure. “It was considered prudent to enrich the underground water supply… What was found was that because of the lengthy wait there was a change in smell and the state lab suggested that it shouldn’t supply the network,” Patsallides said.
Polynikis said enriching the underground water supply with the water was “necessary because there is a danger of oversalination of water if the underground water table is weakened”.
His comment follows recent expert warnings that due to over exploitation of underground water reserves from drilling, fresh water was gaining salinity and could eventually turn into salt water, making it unusable.
Polynikis added that once the tanker’s connection to the anchorage was complete the water would start flowing to the Yermasoyia underground water supply and not the network. The ship was finally connected to the anchorage at 9.30 last night.
Commenting on the incident last night, Limassol Water Board chief, Socrates Metaxas said the town’s water supply was alarmingly low.
He said the development was a huge blow to the town’s consumers as they were barely surviving on existing cuts as it was.
“People are getting by on very little water… it’s not easy to say we will cut more water,” he said.
“We are waiting for the completion the necessary infrastructure that will allow the daily delivery from tankers of drinking water from Greece so that we don’t suffer any more,” Metaxas added.
A total of six vessels will be used for the transportation of water to Cyprus. At present a second tanker has been certified to transport water and has already been loaded, awaiting the OK to begin its journey to Limassol.
Greek water to be dumped
By Alexia Saoulli
THE FIRST shipment of water from Greece is to be dumped on land as it is not suitable for consumption, the Agriculture Minister said yesterday.
The water has sat in a tanker off the coast of Limassol for over two weeks and was due to be pumped into Limassol’s water network today. However, it has been deemed unsuitable for consumption and will be dumped into the ground, where minister Michalis Polynikis rather euphemistically said it would “enrich” Yermasoyia’s underground water supply.
The idea is that the water will end up in boreholes and from there supply homes.
The development has come as a huge blow to Limassol’s Water Board as the town’s water supply is dangerously low and its consumers are already surviving on very little water. Five villages have already resorted to bottled water.
Tests carried out by the state laboratory earlier in the day established the quality of water onboard the Westama tanker had been slightly altered due to its excessive chlorination in recent days, Polynikis said. This has also led to the water emitting a bad odour, according to an Agriculture Ministry announcement.
“There is an increase in the levels of chlorination by-products but which remained within acceptable limits, while the general chromatographic profile of the water’s organic compounds was slightly altered compared to the profile samples of July 1, 2008,” the minister said.
Polynikis’ almost laughable effort to gloss over what is clearly the latest in a series of embarrassing blunders in handling the island’s water problem was made from Brussels, where he is attending the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers.
Fears that the drinking water would prove unusable were raised two weeks ago shortly after the water first arrived in Limassol. As the water arrived before pipes to pump it into the Limassol supply were completed, it was forced to lie stagnant inside the tanker.
The decision to empty it on to the land was made by the Water Development Board. Health Minister Christos Patsallides stressed that this was purely a preventative measure. “It was considered prudent to enrich the underground water supply… What was found was that because of the lengthy wait there was a change in smell and the state lab suggested that it shouldn’t supply the network,” Patsallides said.
Polynikis said enriching the underground water supply with the water was “necessary because there is a danger of oversalination of water if the underground water table is weakened”.
His comment follows recent expert warnings that due to over exploitation of underground water reserves from drilling, fresh water was gaining salinity and could eventually turn into salt water, making it unusable.
Polynikis added that once the tanker’s connection to the anchorage was complete the water would start flowing to the Yermasoyia underground water supply and not the network. The ship was finally connected to the anchorage at 9.30 last night.
Commenting on the incident last night, Limassol Water Board chief, Socrates Metaxas said the town’s water supply was alarmingly low.
He said the development was a huge blow to the town’s consumers as they were barely surviving on existing cuts as it was.
“People are getting by on very little water… it’s not easy to say we will cut more water,” he said.
“We are waiting for the completion the necessary infrastructure that will allow the daily delivery from tankers of drinking water from Greece so that we don’t suffer any more,” Metaxas added.
A total of six vessels will be used for the transportation of water to Cyprus. At present a second tanker has been certified to transport water and has already been loaded, awaiting the OK to begin its journey to Limassol.
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by Nikitas » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:01 pm
This sounds very fishy!!! Water used to be transported to Greek islands in tankers on a daily basis a few years back and there never any problems with it. How come Cyprus all of a sudden has problems with tanked water?
The solution is for people to take the initiative and start on small scale solar desalinators, rain collection and grey water use. The government obviously is not thinking straight on this one.
A Swiss company makes solar water desalinators which cost around 35000 Euro and give about ten cubic meters per day. That is enough water for a neighborhood. A roof of 100 meters squre can collect lots of water even in Cyprus. IF the rainfal is 25 centimeters it can collect 25 tons of water. That is a lot of water for the summer months. Waiting for the government to move is going to take time.
The solution is for people to take the initiative and start on small scale solar desalinators, rain collection and grey water use. The government obviously is not thinking straight on this one.
A Swiss company makes solar water desalinators which cost around 35000 Euro and give about ten cubic meters per day. That is enough water for a neighborhood. A roof of 100 meters squre can collect lots of water even in Cyprus. IF the rainfal is 25 centimeters it can collect 25 tons of water. That is a lot of water for the summer months. Waiting for the government to move is going to take time.
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by Tim Drayton » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:20 pm
Nikitas wrote: Waiting for the government to move is going to take time.
I hope not, because Limassol is said to have a mere two weeks' supply of water left.
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