The policy control of water resource management in Cyprus is at present divided between the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Finance and the Planning Bureau. Water services in Cyprus can be classified into two broad categories:

• Services provided on the freshwater supply side, i.e. services related to the abstraction of freshwater, impoundment, storage, treatment, the production of desalinated water, water distribution;
• Services provided on the wastewater side, i.e. services related to drainage, sewerage collection, treatment, and provision of recycled water (effluent after tertiary treatment).

A summary is provided below.

The Government, through the Government Water Works that are administered by the Water Development Department, is the main service providing freshwater in Cyprus, providing services to both domestic users, through the provision of bulk water quantities to Water Boards, Municipal Authorities and Community Boards, and through the provision of irrigation freshwater on a retail basis to farmers, or on a bulk basis to irrigation Divisions and Associations.

The financing of the Government woaterworks, the Irrigation Division projects, the village water supplies and the town water supplies are made either through Government funds or through loans from International Financing Institutions, such as the World Bank, The Kuwait Fund or the European Investment Bank. In case of sewage projects constructed by the Sewage Boards or for works carried out by the Water Boards, the plans are prepared and implemented by the respective organizations, and their financing is done by the organizations themselves. Recently, the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) financing method was adopted for the construction and operation of the two desalination plants of the island. This method provides that the successful Contractor will design and construct the plant with its own fiancial resources and then will own and operate the plant for ten years and sell water (agreed minimum quantities) of a specified quality, to the Government at a rate ficxed after international tendering. On the other hand the Government is oblidged to buy the specific minimum qwuantities of water. At the end of the ten-year period the plant ownership shall be tranfered to the Government at no additional cost, with the Government having the right to buy the plant before the end of the ten year period, as it was the case with the Dhekelia desalination plant.

Currently, the Government Water Works cover more that 80% of the total domestic demand for potable water and industrial demand. Water is supplied on a bulk basis to the Town Water Boards (Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Famagusta, and Pafos), Municipal Authorities and Community Boards. The share of water supplied by Water Boards through the development of own resources is very low (approximately 1% for the Nicosia Water Board and less than 30% for other Water Boards). Water resources allocated to domestic use provided either by the WDD or by the Water Boards or individual users include:

• Surface water from dams, treated in water treatment plants;
• Groundwater, from public and private boreholes.

Recently, desalinated water is purchased by the Government on the basis of Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) contracts from private companies, which have undertaken the construction and operation of the two major desalination plants of Dhekelia and Larnaca airport.

Water Boards, Municipalities and Community Boards are responsible for the water distribution works within the boundaries of their jurisdiction.

Almost half of irrigation demand is supplied directly by Government, through the Government Water Works. Approximately 60% of the irrigation demand occurs within the Government Irrigation Schemes supplied by:

• Surface water from the pertinent dams, which constitutes the main water supply source;
• Groundwater, abstracted from public and private boreholes;
• Recycled water, which is partly stored in Polemidhia dam and consecutively used in the Germasogeia / Polemidhia Irrigation Scheme.

Irrigation water supplies in Cyprus are managed by local Irrigation Divisions, formed by landowners, and to a lesser extent by Irrigation Associations formed by water-rights owners. The Government through the WDD provides freshwater or recycled water irrigation water on a retail basis to farmers, or on a bulk basis to Irrigation Divisions and Associations.

Currently in Cyprus, the Sewerage Boards of Limassol-Amathus, the Joint Venture of Sewerage Boards of Ayia Napa and Paralimni, the Sewerage Board of Pafos, the Sewerage Board of Larnaca and the Sewerage Board of Nicosia constitute the main service providers in the field of sewerage collection, wastewater treatment and drainage.

Most industries are self-supplied in terms of wastewater treatment, since according to the current institutional framework industries should pre-treat their effluents before discharging to the sewerage system. However, a number of industries, characterised as significant with respect to their effluents, discharge to the Government Central Wastewater Treatment Plant of Vathia Gonia of the Nicosia District and to the treatment plant of Vati in the district of Limassol. Charges are estimated individually, according to the type and volume of effluents.

Recycled water is a resource that has been given increasing attention during the last few years, due to water supply restrictions applied to irrigation use. According to the current institutional framework, the services of sewage collection and secondary wastewater treatment fall under the responsibility of Sewerage Boards. However, the sewerage projects that have been developed include in addition to the sewage networks, a centralised treatment plant at tertiary degree of purification. By Decision of the Council of Ministers, the cost of the tertiary treatment of the treated effluent (both capital and operation and maintenance), which renders the water suitable for irrigation of almost all cultivations, except for green leaf vegetables, is undertaken by the Government. The Government has then the right to direct such water to its systems for the irrigation of tree plantations or hotel gardens, as well as any other use requiring non-potable water.