The MGS Forum
Gardening in mediterranean climates => Water => Topic started by: John J on October 06, 2016, 05:37:33 PM
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One of the largest dams in the Limassol area. The very dry winter with little snowfall in the mountains and the blisteringly hot summer has reduced it to not much more than a puddle. The water doesn't even reach the base of the dam wall. The third photo is looking away from the dam. I took them this evening as I returned home from my daughter's house.
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Arrived back from the MGS AGM a few days ago to daytime temps still in the mid to high 20 degrees C with no sign of rain in the offing. The dam shown in the photos above is at 3.2% of its capacity. At the same time last year it was at 47.9%. The largest dam in Cyprus, the Kouris, is at 10.3% capacity, the same time last year it was at 21.2%. The current average capacity of all the dams on the island stands at 20.3%, the same time last year it was at 40.5%. The total capacity of all the dams is 290.80 million cubic metres while the actual reserves presently stand at 59.099 million cubic metres. The island's 4 desalination plants are at full stretch and producing 220,000 cubic litres per day. It doesn't take much imagination to realize that if we don't get a substantial amount of rain, and soon, the situation could become desperate.
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Worrying...
But there is rain forecast tonight, at least over my end of the island.
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We got a bit of rain last night, Mike, accompanied by some very high winds that has broken branches off our jacarandas and a melia. Having morning cup of tea before venturing out to tidy up the damage.
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The water situation in Cyprus seems desperate.
Hope it rains soon
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Further to my post about the Germasogia Dam, the photo shows my 10 year old grandson cycling in what should be the bottom of the dam. In normal circumstances he should be well under water at that point.
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The photos above are from 2 years ago. The water situation in the dam in December last year was even worse, a mere puddle at the base of the wall. However with torrential rains towards the end of December and for almost all of January so far things have changed dramatically. I took the following photos this afternoon as I drove my grandson home from school. The dam slipway overflowed just after midnight last night according to the authorities. The third photo shows the floating vegetation and accumulated detritus washed down from the surrounding hills.
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A sight seen all too rarely here in Cyprus, the slipway of a dam overflowing.
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Wonderful sight!
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Being at a bit of a loose end, my wife having flown to UK for a couple of days, I decided to take a look at the largest dam on the island, the Kouris, to see how it was faring as most of the lesser ones are overflowing. I found that it is nowhere near capacity yet.
When it was built in the 1980s they had to relocate an entire village from the valley floor to further up the hillside. The church was on higher ground at the edge of the village and most of the time remained relatively unscathed. However, when the dam overflowed in 2004 it was almost completely covered, only the top of the dome showing above water.
As I stood above the church to take photos my only companion was a rather lonely-looking donkey.