Cyprus can start to look forward to good clean water after pumping started from the 1983-built, Ocean Tankers-operated Westama following delays caused by inadequately sized pipework ashore.
A statement from Ocean Tankers, winners of the contract to ship water from Greece to Cyprus, said the first tanker has begun pumping good quality potable water following stringent chemical tests undertaken by the Government of Cyprus. The drought-parched island is in desperate need of additional water supplies from Greece to replenish dwindling reserves, but it has had to wait until infrastructural problems were fixed.
Cyprus-based Ocean Tankers has been contracted to ferry a total of 8m cu m of water from Greece to help ease the holiday island’s water crisis. The entire deal will cost the government more than €40m ($62m) but still only meets half the island’s estimated shortfall of 16m cubic metres by the end of this year.
The first ship, the 1983-built, Ocean Tankers-operated Westama, has been anchored off the southern port city of Limassol since June 30. A second tanker is arriving at Limassol with her precious cargo tomorrow morning at 09.00 hours and the other tankers will follow suit on a consecutive basis.
Six tankers are involved in ferrying the water to Cyprus, with the transfer – totalling 200 shipments – expected to be completed by November. Because of a two-year drought, most households on the eastern Mediterranean island have had water supplies reduced by a third to try to tackle the shortage.
