Authorities in Cyprus have urged residents to reduce their water intake by 10% – the equivalent of two minutes’ use of running water each day – as Europe’s most south-easterly nation grapples with a once-in-a century drought.
The appeal, announced alongside a €31m (£27m) package of emergency measures, comes as reservoirs hit record lows with little prospect of replenishment before the tourist season starts.
“Everyone has to reduce their consumption,” said Eliana Tofa Christidou, who heads the country’s water development department. “Whether that is in the shower, brushing their teeth or using a washing machine. Times are critical and every drop now counts.”
It was, she told the Guardian, the Mediterranean island’s worst drought in living memory with dam inflows at their lowest since 1901, when hydrological records first begun.
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