Cyprus-Forum.com

[georgios100]

Watching the dams overflow is great but does anyone know where this excess water flows into?
The obvious answer is the sea. Can anyone confirm that?

I know this is a weird question but I am studying AR (artificial recharge of aquifers). The concept is to
allow the overflow water to enter the underground aquifer instead of the sea, primarily for farmers to pump out
during the summer crops.

[bill cobbett]

Have a look at the Republic's Water Department site...

Lots of info and maps there... may have something about it there.

http://www.moa.gov.cy/moa/wdd/wdd.nsf/p ... enDocument

[kurupetos]

Watching the dams overflow is great but does anyone know where this excess water flows into?
The obvious answer is the sea. Can anyone confirm that?

I know this is a weird question but I am studying AR (artificial recharge of aquifers). The concept is to
allow the overflow water to enter the underground aquifer instead of the sea, primarily for farmers to pump out
during the summer crops.

Give a techno-economic analysis of these projects and I will tell you if they are worthy of the investment.

I doubt they are useful, because agriculture has a very limited impact in Cypriot economy.

[georgios100]

Have a look at the Republic's Water Department site...

Lots of info and maps there... may have something about it there.

http://www.moa.gov.cy/moa/wdd/wdd.nsf/p ... enDocument

Thanks for the link.
Contrary to the motto "not a drop will go to the sea..." dam spillways end up into the sea
wasting precious resources while aquifers are half empty.

[georgios100]

Watching the dams overflow is great but does anyone know where this excess water flows into?
The obvious answer is the sea. Can anyone confirm that?

I know this is a weird question but I am studying AR (artificial recharge of aquifers). The concept is to
allow the overflow water to enter the underground aquifer instead of the sea, primarily for farmers to pump out
during the summer crops.

Give a techno-economic analysis of these projects and I will tell you if they are worthy of the investment.

I doubt they are useful, because agriculture has a very limited impact in Cypriot economy.

Well, recent studies show that 67% of the water reserves goes to farmers while farming is only 5% of Cyprus GDP.
Over pumping, sea intrusion and other poor practices resulted in the rapid depletion of the aquifers.
Not sure if you want to read more on this but here is the link anyway.
http://www.emwis-cy.org/English_Version ... _1_4_2.pdf

[georgios100]

Here is some numbers extracted from my previous link.

Replenishment of the aquifers (x106 m3):

Natural Recharge from:
Rainfall 205.1
River flows 44.8
Return from irrigation/domestic 22.1
Groundwater inflow 8.8
Dam losses 1.7
Natural Recharge 282.5 282.5
Artificial recharge 9.8
Sea intrusion 12.8
REPLENISHMENT (TOTAL RECHARGE) 305.1 mcm

The red numbers flagged are in question.

Outflow from the aquifers (x106 m3):
Extraction 129.1
Groundwater Outflow 166.7
Sea Outflow 24.6
TOTAL OUTFLOW 320.4 mcm

[kurupetos]

Yorgo, that's not a techno-economic study though.

You will have to convince officials that your proposal (artificial recharge of aquifers) is economically (i.e. investment cost, maintenance costs, lifetime, etc.) viable.

[GreekIslandGirl]

From what I've seen the run-off water flows into old riverbeds before it ever reaches the sea (not many/any dams are right next to the sea?). This means the water will be absorbed into the soil until saturated before any is left to "flow" into the sea.

[georgios100]

Yorgo, that's not a techno-economic study though.

You will have to convince officials that your proposal (artificial recharge of aquifers) is economically (i.e. investment cost, maintenance costs, lifetime, etc.) viable.

I know what I posted is not a techno-economic study. The fact remains that the biggest consumers are the farmers not to mention
the subsidies they enjoy. At a rate of 0.43 cents/m3 subsidy, you can calculate the millions of tonnes of water lost into the sea.
Bear in mind, these subsidies are paid by all of us.

My studies compare the cost/maintenance of construction of more dams vs percolation ponds. Dams are very expensive to build and maintain but, in addition have 2 major cons. Evaporation and sedimentation. I believe the much lower cost of percolation ponds with injection wells and evaporation reduction media might prove a better solution instead of just building more dams. Afterall, aquifers are water storage bodies like the dams are, but with major advantages related to evaporation, sedimentation, water quality etc. Enriching the aquifers would reduce or eliminate the water subsidies to the farmers.

So, instead of planning more dam building, we should look at installing AR ponds at runoff areas not covered by dams. The same applies to areas frequently flooded by heavy rains. The storm water pipelines should be directed inland (percolation ponds) instead of the sea. Limassol, Larnaca etc suffer from rain floods every year, damaging private property while the rain water is lost to the sea...