Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

64 NARRATIVE Water scarcity has always been a major challenge for Cyprus, which is among the EU Member States with the least available water per capita. Being a small island, Cyprus faces additional challenges, compared to mainland countries, and is more vulnerable to climate change. Cyprus has a semi-arid climate and limited water resources which depend mainly on rainfall. However, rainfall is unevenly distributed with considerable regional variations, water resources are scarce and expensive to exploit and droughts occur frequently. Climate change is already affecting Cyprus in a number of ways. Statistical analysis reveals a stepped drop of precipitation in Cyprus in the early 70’s, which persists, while climate models for this region also predict a rise in temperature and an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme drought events. These conditions, coupled with increased water demands, mainly due to population growth are worsening the water scarcity problem on the island. Different Government initiatives, in accordance with EU and national directives, aim to address the water scarcity problem of Cyprus by focusing, among other things, on the implementation of desalination and water reuse schemes. ANALYSIS In Cyprus, the percentage of the population having neither a bath, nor a shower, nor indoor flushing toilet in their household is 0.5%. The corresponding EU average is 1.6%, placing Cyprus in the 14 th place among EU countries (see Figure 18). In regards to water quality, Cyprus ranks close to the middle among EU countries. In particular it is 15 th in the biochemical oxygen demand in rivers indicator (3.3 mg to 2 mg O 2 per litre relative to the EU) and 12 th in the nitrate in groundwater (42.1 mg to 19.1 mg NO 3 per litre relative to the EU). Most importantly, 99.1% of the country’s bathing sites are of excellent water quality, placing Cyprus 2 nd among EU countries. Finally, Cyprus seems to struggle in terms of water use efficiency. This derives from the water exploitation index, which is a measure of total fresh water use as a percentage of the renewable fresh water resources. In Cyprus, the Water Exploitation Index (WEI) was 70.3% of the long-term average available water, (compared to the EU average of 84%) placing Cyprus last among EU countries. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 % of population Total Below 60% Of Median Equivalised Income Above 60% Of Median Equivalised Income 0.5 1.5 0.3 1.6 5.8 0.8 Cyprus EU Figure 18.: Population Having Neither a Bath, nor a Shower, nor Indoor Flushing Toilet in Their Household