Paris Demetriades
On summer mornings this year at Limassol’s urban beaches, among women doing water aerobics, teenagers playing football on the sand, muscular outdoor calisthenics enthusiasts, and all kinds of retirees enjoying their usual coffee or taking a walk by the water, one conversation has recently become almost universal: whether the seawater is clean at any given moment and, if not, where the pollution is coming from. We may be talking about very different groups of people, with entirely different interests and activities, but the right to swim carefree in clear water obviously concerns every beachgoer. And while the problem in this particular city has been around for years, it seems that somehow, each year is worse than the last.
In such an active urban setting as Limassol, there are many possible sources of marine pollution. They range from the dozens of tanker ships anchored offshore every day, which are regularly photographed as both the literal and figurative main source of the problem, to the equally numerous construction sites and towers along the seafront boulevard, which have repeatedly been criticized for discharging wastewater into the sea. The city’s otherwise heavily promoted marina also appears to have contributed to the disruption of the marine ecosystem.
In a port city, one might perhaps say that at least people can still swim. But what happens if we accept that our largest coastal city, which has built a significant part of its identity around being a coastal city, will eventually lose the privilege of swimming for its residents and visitors altogether? I think that would be an extremely unpleasant development.
And unfortunately, the discussion is not only about Limassol. It concerns Paphos as well, where sewage, waste and microplastics are still being found even on supposedly untouched beaches such as Timi and Lara. It concerns the dreamlike crystal-clear waters of Latchi, which, according to complaints, are at risk from the planned expansion of the fishing harbor into a massive marina. It also concerns, sadly, the indescribably beautiful and enchanting beaches along our eastern coastline, where imposing marinas have also been built. The competent authorities, both national and local, should also be on strict alert when it comes to the coastal city of Larnaca, so that whatever can still be saved is saved, since this city too is facing major construction projects in the years immediately ahead.
Ultimately, the discussion concerns every corner of Cyprus’s coastline that comes under the pressure of frenzied construction activity. Every new marina, every port project and every major intervention in the sea must be examined according to the strictest scientific and environmental criteria by the Shipping Deputy Ministry, the Department of Environment and the other competent authorities. These projects may provide temporary or even substantial economic benefits to certain groups within the population, but we do not need a priest to tell us that they affect marine currents, the natural renewal of coastlines, the movement of sand and sensitive seabed ecosystems, often in ways that cannot be reversed.
The greatest trap would be to believe that Cyprus’s enchanting seas, which once again this year ranked first in Europe for the cleanliness of their waters, that supreme public good we enjoy for free, will last forever. They will not. Science has established that damage to the marine environment can take decades to repair, if it can ever be repaired at all.
Development is necessary. Investment is necessary. Infrastructure is necessary. But progress is not measured only in cranes, concrete and new flashy structures. It is also measured by whether, when we look out at the sea, we can still clearly see the seabed. In other words, there are some things that simply should not, and cannot, be bought with money. Ten, twenty or thirty years from now, will future generations still be able to enjoy these same seas?
