Over the next two years, Cyprus’ government is planning to provide € 3 million in funding to hotels willing to install their own desalination plants. The plan should ensure the island has enough fresh water to get through the dry summer season.
As Cyprus is getting out of the second-driest winter in a decade, the country is struggling to keep up its water reserves. The water levels across the 108 dams spread over the island are already low (24.6% capacity) and high demand combined with leaks it putting an even greater strain on the water supply network.
In order to ensure the tourist hotspot can keep up its water supplies, agriculture and environment minister Maria Panayiotou has now shared a new funding plan. Firstly, €3 million will be allocated to hotels willing to construct their own private desalination plants over the next two years. Secondly, it will be easier for players in the agriculture and tourism sectors to build small-scale desalination plants. Thirdly, €8 million will be spent on fixing the existing infrastructure to reduce water leaks and losses – representing an estimated 40% of the country’s water needs according to Panayiotou.
At the moment, Cyprus already has four working desalination plants. They each produce 235,000 cubic metres of fresh water on a daily basis. A fifth one has been temporarily put out of action following a fire. As of October, four mobile desalination plants will become operational and should provide 30,000 cubic metres of fresh water daily.
However, according to Panayiotou, more desalination plants are necessary. She estimates the daily number of cubic metres of fresh water produced on a daily basis should quadruply over the next decade in order to meet demand.
Sea water for tourists in Greece
Cyprus isn’t the only country in the Mediterranean to make use of sea water for meeting the demand in water, partly caused by the tourism industry. A two-year-long drought in Greece has prompted officials to consider a new legislation which would oblige coastal hotels to fill their pools with sea water.
“This (legislation) regulates the framework for carrying out seawater extraction and pumping it for swimming pools. The focus, of course, is to conserve water resources”, Elena Rapti, a deputy minister of tourism told a parliament committee in January 2025.
Whether or not the Greek legislation proposal will go through remains to be seen, as some are questioning the treatment of the sea water in order for it to meet water quality rules. Especially if the sea water is pumped back into the sea once used this could greatly impact marine life.
