Newsroom
Cyprus is ending 2025 with its water reserves still at critically low levels, despite a December marked by colder temperatures, rainfall, and snowfall in higher elevations. While recent weather conditions helped slow the pace at which reservoirs were being depleted, they failed to significantly replenish dam storage.
According to figures released by the Water Development Department on December 29, the country’s 18 main dams are currently holding just 9.2% of their total capacity, equivalent to approximately 26.9 million cubic meters of water. This represents almost no change from December 23, when storage stood marginally higher at 9.3%. In essence, rainfall prevented further losses but did not generate a net gain.
Cumulative inflows into reservoirs during the first 29 days of December totaled 1.418 million cubic meters, ranking as the third-lowest December inflow recorded since 2015. The contrast with last year is stark: December 2024 saw inflows of roughly 5.71 million cubic meters, nearly four times as much.
Between December 24 and 29, precipitation and limited snowmelt resulted in only about 170,000 cubic meters of water being stored across the dam network. The amounts recorded at individual reservoirs were as follows:
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Kouris: 29,000 cubic meters
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Arminou: 29,000 cubic meters
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Asprokremmos: 24,000 cubic meters
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Dipotamos: 18,000 cubic meters
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Evretou: 16,000 cubic meters
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Mavrokolympos: 11,000 cubic meters
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Pomos: 8,000 cubic meters
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Germasogeia: 7,000 cubic meters
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Kannaviou: 6,000 cubic meters
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Kalavasos: 4,000 cubic meters
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Xyliatos: 4,000 cubic meters
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Lefkara: 3,000 cubic meters
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Polemidia: 3,000 cubic meters
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Argaka: 3,000 cubic meters
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Agia Marina: 3,000 cubic meters
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Kalopanagiotis: 2,000 cubic meters
Officials note that a significant share of December’s rainfall was lost to runoff into the sea, as weather systems mainly impacted coastal regions rather than inland catchment areas. As a result, attention is now turning to the coming weeks, with hopes for more sustained rainfall at higher elevations and substantial snowfall in the Troodos mountains, conditions that would be far more effective in boosting reservoir levels.
