Abstract
This study investigates four subsidies for drinking water conservation initiated in Cyprus in 1997, namely: the construction of domestic boreholes for garden irrigation, the connection of a borehole to toilet cisterns for flushing, the installation of domestic grey-water recycling systems, and hot water recirculators. The policy objective on launching these incentives, presented here as an Economic Policy Instrument (EPI), was to reduce drinking water demand in households, partly supplied by desalination, especially during drought periods. Thus, the focus of reducing drinking water consumption was not directly linked to an overall reduction of the domestic water consumption. From 1997 to 2010 a total of 13,172 subsidies have been granted, amounting to EUR 5.5 million, resulting in a cumulative saving of 12.42 mio m3 of water. The overall performance of this EPI is subject to uncertainty, while its overall usefulness as an EPI is questionable due to externalities, mainly related with its impact on the overall domestic water consumption and the exploitation of regional groundwater resources.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Grey-water is defined here as domestic wastewater from laundry, dishwashing and showers.
- 2.
Hot water recirculators pull hot water from the water heater while they send back (at the same time) cooled-off water creating a closed loop. These systems conserve water (no wasting of water while waiting for the hot water to arrive to the tap) and use little energy.
References
Aeoliki Ltd. (2009). Institutional framework and decision making practices for water management in Cyprus. INECO project report. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Charalambous, K., Bruggeman, A., & Lange, M. A. (2011). Policies for improving water security, the case of Cyprus. Project Report, WP4 Deliverable, CLICO FP7 project, March 2011.
Cyprus Energy efficiency report, January 2011. Accessed 15 September 2014.
Cyprus Mail. (2008). Water authority defends new borehole subsidies. http://www.cyprusedirectory.com/cyprusguide/cyprus.aspx?ID=8990. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
European Environment Agency (EEA). (2011). WISE-SoE reporting on water quantity, waterbase – water quantity. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Government of Cyprus. (2010). Unified water management law (in Greek). Official Government Gazette, Nicosia, Cyprus. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
I.A.CO Ltd. (2011). Report on the assessment of water demand management measures (in Greek). MANRE, February 2011.
Kambanellas, C. A. (2007). Recycling of grey water in Cyprus. Sustainable Water Management 1-2007, Water Development Department, Nicosia.
Kossida, M. (2010). Towards a Water Scarcity & Drought Indicator System (WSDiS). WS&D Expert Network. Helsinki, 30 Sept 2010.
Kossida, M., Tekidou, A., & Mimikou, M. (2011). Subsidies for drinking water conservation in Cyprus. Deliverable D3.1 – Review reports, WP3 EX-POST Case studies, EPI-Water project.
Kossida, M., Kakava, A., Tekidou, A., Iglesias A., & Mimikou, M. (2012). Vulnerability to water scarcity and drought in Europe. Thematic assessment for EEA 2012 Report. ETC/ICM technical report 2012/3. ISBN 978-80-85087-13-0.
Kossida, M., Tekidou, A., & Mimikou, M. (2013). Assessing the role of subsidies as an economic policy instrument for water conservation: An ex-post evaluation in Cyprus. In IWA 3rd conference on water economics, statistics, and finance, 24–26 Apr 2013, Marbella.
Kotsila, P. (2010). The socio-environmental history of water development and management in the Republic of Cyprus. MS thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Manoli, A. (2010). Desalination in Cyprus. Presentation to the Spanish Cypriot Partnering Event, Nicosia.
Republic of Cyprus, Ministry of Agriculture Natural Resources and Environment (MANRE). (2005). Water framework directive (2000/60/EC). EU Summary Report Article 5 & 6. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Republic of Cyprus, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment (MANRE). (2010). Water framework directive – reporting sheets on economics. Nicosia, February 2010. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Republic of Cyprus, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment (MANRE), Water Development Department (WDD) Website. http://www.cyprus.gov.cy/moa/wdd/Wdd.nsf/index_en/index_en?OpenDocument. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Water Development Department (WDD). (2005). Citizen’s Charter’, Press and Information Office, Republic of Cyprus 359/2005 – 2.000, ISBN 963-38-347-5. Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Water Development Department (WDD). (2009). Special report 2.1, economic analysis of water use, calculation of total cost of water services, identification of current levels of cost recovery) (in Greek). Accessed 15 Sept 2014.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kossida, M., Tekidou, A., Mimikou, M.A. (2015). Subsidies for Drinking Water Conservation in Cyprus. In: Lago, M., Mysiak, J., Gómez, C., Delacámara, G., Maziotis, A. (eds) Use of Economic Instruments in Water Policy. Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18287-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18287-2_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18286-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18287-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)