MAINS SEWERAGE
As a member state of the European Union, Cyprus is obliged to follow EU guidelines in many areas and one such is the requirement to control the pollution levels resulting from sewage discharge into the ground water. In a move to assist Cyprus in this task, the EU have awarded a grant of 80% to some areas of Cyprus that will partially fund the cost of all work required to meet these requirements.
A central agency, SAPA, has been created to
manage the EU funding grant, review existing sewage pollution and oversee the
survey, design and installation measures necessary to ensure that Cyprus
complies with the relevant guidelines. A
central common road based sewage collection system has been proposed and is
already installed or in the process of being installed across the island.
Over the last 5 or so years, everyone will
have been aware of the dust and inconvenience as SAPA have installed the
pipework for this road-based sewerage system in Paphos and some surrounding
villages.
Whilst work has stopped due to the
financial crisis, SAPA are now starting
to look to the next phase of the project and have started issuing invoices to
residents of Peyia and Tala to generate additional funds to continue their
island wide work.
Peyia is a municipality and, as such, there
will be no Government funding for their project. In addition, their council have elected to
proceed with the road-based system.
Tala is a council and will therefore
qualify for 80% Government funding for the project. However, the council and residents have
elected not to proceed with the scheme following a review of the terrain and
technical difficulties that will result from installation of a common system in
the Tala area and have formally confirmed to SAPA and Central Government that
Tala does not wish to be part of the Project .
The need to review existing sewage
treatment methods has arisen due to a European directive that states that where
there is a population in excess of 2,000, a sewage system should be in place to
ensure that ground water pollution is kept within EU guideline. The EU
guidelines additionally allow for the fact that although a common road based
system is preferable, such a common system is not mandatory where installation
is considered to be technically impractical or not financially viable, and where
an acceptable alternative can be installed.
Although SAPA seem determined to drive
Peyia and Tala down the road-based system route the review undertaken both by
Tala council representatives and a qualified engineer, has highlighted the
following reasons for rejection of the proposed common system by Tala council and residents [although the same
objections apply equally to Peyia]:
·
A road-based system and
connected sewage processing plant is seen by other EU countries as an outdated
method of dealing with sewerage. Not
only due to the cost of installation of such systems and the excessive
excavation work required, but also due to the costs of processing the effluent
to ensure that the final output is environmentally friendly. In addition to the costs of the necessary
pipework, system control and system monitoring, road based pumping stations are
required and the cost of electricity to deal with the processing will prove expensive.
·
The terrain in the Tala area is
such that many main road based pumping stations would be needed to ensure that
sewage continues to move up hill to a main collection sewer and many throttling
stations to control the speed of sewage in downhill areas. This is causing concerns
over the environmental consequences of long term high energy consumption, attendant
costs of power and ongoing and full 24 hour technical support, all of which
will inevitably fall on householders.
There is also concern over odour nuisance, contamination and health
hazard due to overflows resulting from flooding on common roads due to poor
drainage, power failure or mechanical/electrical breakdown and blockage, to
which all sewage pumps are prone. All
these potential issues will lead to groundwater
contamination which will breach EU environmental guidelines. In addition, the introduction of road based
pumping stations will require availability of emergency power units, back-up
pumps, emergency ground based storage tanks to cover pump failure, 24 hour
maintenance support with necessary qualified staff, suitable vehicles and
tankers to deal with pollution cleanup from flooding, a full inventory of spare
pumps and spare parts and dedicated warehouse and office facilities. It is clear that Tala council will be unable
to fund these high costs and that no alternative funding method has been
considered. As such, this plan for a
common road based system in Tala is considered to be financially and
technically impractical.
·
The installation of a common
road based sewage system will also require that many householders would have to
install domestic pumps to lift their waste up to the main sewer connection in
the road above their plot. This is also
causing concerns over the environmental consequences of long term high energy
consumption and attendant costs of power, which will, again, inevitably fall on
householders, together with the high costs of ongoing maintenance and
operation. In addition, there is also
the prospect of odour nuisance, domestic contamination and health hazard due to
overflows and damage within domestic property resulting from heavy rain, flooding,
power failure or mechanical/electrical breakdown and blockage, to which all both
road based and small domestic sewage pumps are prone, and which would again lead
to groundwater contamination in contravention of EU environmental guidelines.
·
Any road based system in hilly
terrain that requires multiple pumping stations and relies on electricity will
be a concern when power cuts are a regular occurrence. Tala was recently the subject of three
separate extended power cuts over a 24-hour period.
·
The road based project would be
very expensive and the expenditure, pollution and long term upheaval due to
noise, dust, traffic disruption and inconvenience would be unjustified given
that the existing domestic treatment units currently installed domestic
treatment systems in Tala work perfectly well.
·
The processing station near the
airport has not been designed to have sufficient capacity to deal with waste
from Peyia and Tala.
·
There has been no public
presentation, input taken from the community or process of consultation on the design, costs and
timing or the project as would be a normal process in any other EU member
state. As a consequence of the lack of transparency to
date and the technical difficulties associated with the installation of a
common road based system, Tala council and the residents will continue to
resist the unjustified proposal made by SAPA to include Tala in the common
system.
·
There has been no survey, design, cost analysis, feasibility study, project plan or
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project and no soil testing has
been performed to ascertain whether the existing Tala systems do actually
exceed EU guidelines in respect of groundwater contamination. As a consequence of this lack of preparation,
it is clear that there is no basis for calculating or levying a charge for work
where the scope of work has not been defined or agreed.
·
The EU has provided funds such
that 80% funding from the Government has been made available for Tala to
upgrade existing sewage treatment methods if found to be below EU standards but the Government does not now have the necessary
funds to cover Tala and there is no early prospect of the Central Government
being in a financial position to meet this funding contribution. The earliest anticipated date for such funds
being available is 2020.
·
The inability of Central Government to provide SAPA with the
necessary funding for those parts of the project that have already been started
and are currently incomplete would indicate that SAPA is looking to obtain
funds from Tala residents to finance other incomplete projects in Cyprus and
not the Tala area from which the funding is requested.
·
There is no detailed understanding of the technical and
financial challenges that will apply to any future installation of a common
system in the hilly areas that comprise Tala.
·
Review of other road works
installations in Paphos and nearby villages demonstrate that the road surfaces
where pipes have been laid and manholes installed would never be reinstated to
the original quality.
·
In the event that soil testing
is performed per EU guidelines and the existing Tala domestic treatment units
are found to be below EU Emission guidelines then an EU acceptable upgrade
alternative is available. The
alternative solution to satisfy EU requirements is to add an additional
treatment Pod to existing domestic treatment units. The cost for this would be considerably less
than the road-based system and would not necessitate disruption to the roads
and the resultant associated expenditure.
In addition, the costs of a common system and the processing of Tala waste
would be avoided and the maintenance costs of each individual domestic unit
would not be the responsibility of Tala council, SAPA or Central Government but
would remain under the control of the individual householder as at present. Such pods are widely used in the rest of
Europe and are currently being installed in remote areas across Cyprus. They are
environmentally friendly and remove all the concerns raised by both council
members and residents alike.
As a first step, Tala residents have rejected
the unwarranted charge from SAPA and wish to see the charge withdrawn until
further investigation is undertaken to determine the actual current pollution
levels in Tala and whether any new measures should actually be taken with the resulting
high expenditure incurred, both to Government, SAPA, Tala council and the Tala
residents. In addition, and if current
pollution levels are found to be below EU guidelines, they believe that there must
be a full technical and financial study to determine the viability and suitability
of a road-based system and on the acceptance of the EU acceptable proposed upgrade
pod or other alternative.
Following a meeting at SAPA on 19 February,
the charges for sewerage for Tala residents have been frozen until the end of
2016. This then gives the council and
residents time to negotiate further with the appropriate Government Ministries.
Peyia residents wish to see a public
meeting so that the design, timetable and costings of the project would be
disclosed and, as a result of their recent vocal objections, it is expected
that this will now take place.
Given the alternative which is available, one
might ask why SAPA is so keen to persevere with an antiquated, expensive, hard
to maintain and non-environmentally friendly road-based sewerage system in Tala
and Peyia which will incur a large financial burden on Central Government, Tala
Council, Peyia municipality, residents of both communities and additionally cause disruption
and deter tourists from enjoying their time in Cyprus.
