Cypriots Skip Showers as Drought Threatens Golf Courses, Hotels

By Maher Chmaytelli

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Cypriots prayed for rain to end the worst drought in 50 years. They got tankers carrying enough water from Greece to fill 3,200 Olympic swimming pools.

A fleet of ships started offloading its cargo this week at the port of Limassol, on the Mediterranean island's south coast, after engineers fixed a pipeline carrying the water inland. Six tankers plan 160 trips over the next six months after rainfall on Cyprus dropped to a fifth of average levels.

The biggest water transport operation in history may help revive the parched villages, yellowing golf courses and desiccated farms that dot Cyprus. It won't damp the debate raging between people who want to limit construction of resorts that suck up the island's water and those who want President Demetris Christofias to chase economic growth by attracting more tourists.

``The import operation is just an injection,'' says Costas Papastavros, an adviser to the Environment Ministry. ``It won't correct the imbalance between resources and consumption. We should rethink the whole picture.''

That attitude has angered developers and hoteliers, who say it threatens the engine of the economy: tourism. They want the government to speed up plans to build desalination plants that remove salt from seawater.

``The development of major projects should be accelerated,'' says Haris Loizides, chairman of the Cyprus Hotelier Association. ``The government should view issues such as more marinas and golf courses with a better eye.''

On July 16, Cypriot authorities decided the first water shipment was unsafe for human consumption, underscoring the vulnerability of the shipments. The consignment had been sitting on the ship for more than a week as engineers struggled to lengthen a pipeline ferrying the water onshore.

Dropping Reservoirs

After four years of drought, Cyprus's 17 largest reservoirs are less than 7 percent full, a record low, as temperatures soar to 104 degrees.

The government introduced rationing in April, sparing only the hotels and tourists that account for a quarter of the economy. Cypriot homes get running water three days a week.

``In this sweltering heat we should be taking two showers a day,'' said Iliada Spyrou, 22, a university student in Nicosia. ``Sometimes we make do with one bucket.''

Authorities are offering water saving advice, such as telling residents to turn off showers while applying soap.

With the use of outdoor hoses banned, Anna Solomonides, a 45-year-old mother of two, says she collects water used to rinse fruits and vegetables, or drained from the fish tank, to keep her garden growing.

At the Aphrodite Hills golf resort, close to Limassol, reservations have dropped by almost a third from last year, said Andrew Darker, the operations manager.

Golf Discounts

Built amidst olive and carob trees on a hill overlooking a bay where legend says the Greek goddess of love was born, parts of the course are dry and yellowed as daily watering is restricted to 25 percent of the 1,000 sprinklers.

``We have to reduce our price or take the risk of losing golfers to other destinations,'' Darker said, declining to give details about the discounts. A round normally costs as much 143 euros ($226).

Average annual rainfall on Cyprus has dropped by 15 percent in the last 100 years to 470 millimeters (18.5 inches), said Papastavros, the Environment Ministry adviser. Inflow to the island's reservoirs fell to 18 million cubic meters (4.8 billion gallons) this year compared with an average of 78 million cubic meters over the last 30 years.

Some argue that Cyprus has exacerbated the shortage, with development stoking demand for limited resources. The number of tourist beds has risen to about 100,000 from 10,000 in 1980.

Golf Course Freeze

Amid mounting concern that water is running out, the government, which took power in February, froze permits for 14 new golf courses as ponds across the country ran dry and the Greek Orthodox Church led prayers for rain.

Christofias also set up a commission to review the tourism development plan proposed by his predecessor, Tassos Papadopoulos, which targeted a 45 percent increase in tourist numbers to 3.5 million by 2010.

``Water has become a rare and expensive commodity with repercussions throughout the economy,'' Christofias said in May. ``The need for major projects such as marinas, ports, airports and conference centers is a given fact, but these should not be developed to the detriment of the environment.''

For now, a plan to double Cyprus's desalination capacity to 60 million cubic meters has been delayed, partly by residents and environmentalists concerned about noise and air pollution.

``With wells drying up, little rain and desalination insufficient, what can we do but pray,'' said Yiangos Ioannidou, a 40-year-old engineer, lounging under a Heineken umbrella on a palm planted beach in Limassol. ``We pray for rain in Cyprus and in Greece.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Maher Chmaytelli in Nicosia at mchmaytelli@bloomberg.net.