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13th International Congress on Advances in Civil Engineering, 12-14 September 2018, Izmir/TURKEY
1
Cyprus Water Supply Project: Features and Outcomes
N. Ağıralioğlu1, A. Danandeh Mehr1, Ö. Aakdeğirmen1, E. Taş1
1Department of Civil Engineering, Antalya Bilim University, Antalya, Turkey
Abstract
Cyprus Island has very limited water resources. Recently, this problem has rather been resolved by transferring
water from Turkey to the island known as Cyprus Water Supply Project (CWSP). The CWSP is comprised of
three phases named, Turkey side, sea crossing, and Cyprus side. From the construction point of view, sea
crossing is the most important phase of the project that is the first in the world with its high-density polyethylene
pipeline of 80 km crossing the Mediterranean Sea in a suspended position at 250 meters below sea level.
Besides, the annual amount of water transferred to the island is more important from socio-environmental
perspective. This article aims to introduce the main construction features of CWSP. In addition, outcomes of the
project were reviewed regarding the island climate, available water, local and regional development objectives
and ambitions, and increasing water demand in the foster island. Since 2015, with the realization of CWSP, 75
million cubic meters of water is supplied to the island per year that is used for potable, irrigation, and industrial
needs. The results indicated that the supplied water has significantly increased the annual amount of total
accessible water of northern island. But, there is still substantial shortage of water in the entire island to meet its
needs. Lessons learnt from this project improved the knowledge of submarine water pipeline construction and
could be considered as a real milestone toward transboundary water supply projects in the world.
Keywords: water shortage, subsea pipelines, Cyprus, Turkey, water supply.
1 Introduction
Cyprus is the 3rd biggest island on Mediterranean Sea with a surface area of 9251 km². The island covers two
separated zone of Republic of Southern Cyprus and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It has typical
Mediterranean climate with annual average precipitation about 345 mm on the northern part and about 503 mm
on the southern part. On the basis of historical precipitations, several drought periods in the island has been
reported (Griggs, 2013). It also suffers from potable water scarcity due to salinization problem in groundwater
and limited geomorphological variations for surface water retention systems. Under these sever climate and
environmental conditions, since the early 1900, Cyprus has started to invest on surface water retention systems.
In the meantime, the available dams, water ponds as well as groundwater resources became insufficient to the
significant population increase (DPÖ, 2015). To solve the problem, a number of studies have been carried out
including the water transportation from Turkey to island but none of them came true because of technological or
financial difficulties (Ağıralioğlu 2016). Finally, at 2011, the first step taken toward the realization of Cyprus
Water Supply Project (CWSP). Symbolically named Peace Water (Bariş Suyu), the project brings 75 million
cubic meters of fresh water annually from Anamur River, Turkey to Cyprus. This is the longest subsea water
pipeline project in the world that pumps water directly to Northern Cyprus with the help of an 80-kilometre
water pipe running under the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of up to 280 meters. This article aims to review the
main construction features of CWSP and put forward some comments that may be useful for the future of
sustainable water resources management in the island.
2 Climate, water potential and water demand of Northern Cyprus
According to the climatological classifications, the island located in a semi-arid region. Temperature can reach
up to 40 °C during summer. Long term average of monthly temperature variation in Northern Cyprus was shown
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in Figure 1 that indicates the highest monthly temperature is observed in July-August at each year (KKTC,
2018).
Figure 1. the observed minimum. Maximum and Long term mean of monthly temperature at Northern Cyprus
According to the meteorological observations, in 20th century average rate of temperature increase equals to 0.01
degree/year. Urbanization plays an important role on temperature increase in the area. When we compare the
2016 maximum daily temperatures with the normal values considered by Republic of Cyprus which is recorded
between (1981-2010), 1.5 C° difference stands out (KKTC 2018). Among the climatological variables,
precipitation is of the important components of the water budget calculations in the island. In opposite to the
temperature, the precipitation tends to decrease year by year (Maidment 2016). Figure 2 presents the long term
areal average precipitation and evaporation in Northern Cyprus. Precipitations are not evenly distributed, and 80
percent of precipitations is estimated to be evaporated due to high temperature. Long-term mean of total annual
precipitation amount is about 500mm. Heavy precipitations are typically observed during December and
January.
Figure 2. Records of Northern Cyprus Annual Precipitation between 1991-2016
Potable water amount in any catchment mainly depends on the precipitation across the catchment. Meanwhile,
precipitation distribution is influenced by the climate of the catchment. Based upon type of a climate, Table 1
(UNESCO 2003) shows mean precipitation and its corresponding evaporation, surface runoff and ground water
components at each climate region.
Table 1. Precipitation ad its components of different climate types (UNESCO 2003)
Mild climate
Semi-arid climate
Arid climate
%
mm
%
mm
%
mm
Total Precipitation
100
500-1500
100
200-500
100
0-200
Evaporation/Evapotranspiration
~ 33
160-500
~ 50
100-250
~ 70
0-140
Groundwater recharge
~ 33
160-500
~ 20
40-100
~ 1
0-2
Surface runoff
~ 33
160-500
~ 30
60-150
~ 29
0-60
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With respect to the historical climatic observations the total annual precipitation in entire island is around 498
mm. As it is located in a semi-arid zone, the corresponding evaporation, groundwater and surface runoff
components can be estimated as 250mm, 100mm, and 150mm, respectively. The table also indicates that Norther
Cyprus fits to semi–arid climate type and therefore, %20 and %30 of the total precipitation are estimated to run
down for groundwater recharge and surface runoff, respectively. From this point, it is estimated that total
volumetric annual water amount for groundwater and surface water is respectively 925 and 1388 MCM (million
cubic meters) (Ağıralioğlu 2016). However, due to the nature of the island as well as the irregularity of river
flow regimes most of the surface water directly flows to the sea and only %10 of surface water is accessible for
human use. In addition, the main aquifers in Northern Cyprus include Güzelyurt, Gazimağusa and Girne Aquifer.
Total estimated capacity is around 52.2 MCM. consequently, total potable water resources in Northern Cyprus is
estimated to be around 94 to 173 million cubic meters.
Limited water resources of the island in one hand, and growing demand with the increment on the population of
the island from the other hand, created a difficult water management problem. Water consumption for the years
between 2000 and 2012 was given in Table 2. It points out that through the years while residential water
consumption increases, the agricultural water use decrease. Increasing population, decreasing groundwater
levels, decreasing agricultural lands and groundwater contaminations are some of the reasons behind the current
state. Renewable water resources in the island is according to 2013 data, about 683 m³/capita/year. This amount
can be classified as “scarcity condition” according to Falkenmark water stress index (Falkenmark et al. 1989).
Table 2. Annual Water Consumption in Northern Cyprus According to Types of Consumption (MCM)
Type of
Consumption
2000
2001
2011
2012
Residential
36
37
49
50
Agricultural
106
89
63
75
Total
142
126
112
125
3 Cyprus Water Supply Project
The CWSP has also known as the Cyprus Peace Water Project, the Cyprus Life Water Project, and the Project of
the Century from time to time in Northern Cyprus. The water collected in Alaköprü Dam reservoir built on the
Anamur (Dragon) Stream in Turkey is carried to the Mediterranean Sea shore by a 23-km long transmission
pipeline. From the sea shore, 75 million m³ water is transported via 80 km suspended sea crossing pipeline to
Geçitköy Dam reservoir located at Kyrenia, North Cyprus (sea Figure 3.). Using a transmission line built in the
Northern Cyprus territory the water is distributed to the residential and agricultural areas in Northern Cyprus.
Figure 3. Main Parts of CWSP crossing Mediterranean Sea
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As illustrated in Figure 3, this project has three major sides named as Turkey side, sea crossing and Northern
Cyprus side. On the Turkey side, project includes; Alaköprü Dam with total storage capacity of 130.5 MCM. A
hydroelectric power plant with installed capacity of 26 MW is also take a part on outskirts of Alaköprü Dam.
The second portion of Turkey side of the project includes a 23 km long ductile cast iron pipe transmission line
with 1500 mm diameter, Anamuryum Balancing Tank of 10,000 m³ volume and sea entrance valve rooms.
Figure 4 shows some of construction phases of Turkey side of the project.
Figure 4. Some of construction features of Turkish side of CWSP project a) Alaköprü Dam, b) construction of
new residencies in Anamur, c) and d) pipe manufacturing in Mersin (Ağıralioğlu 2016).
Sea crossing side (please see Figure 5) of CWSP is the first in the world with its high-density polyethylene
pipeline of 80 km length and 1600 mm diameter crossing the sea in a suspended position at 280 meters below
sea level. In Turkey and Northern Cyprus, sea crossing pipeline was constructed to buried under sea bed until a
water depth of 20 m and laid under sea bed between 20 and 280 m water depth with its stability provided by
means of concrete weight blocks. After 280m water depth is reached, 500 meters long single-piece pipes are
connected mechanically to each other by Y shape connections. Total of 134 Y connections (see Figure 6a), each
of which 16000 kg, were located 280 meters below the sea level. These are connected to buoyancy modules and,
in turn, to anchor blocks (see Figure 6b) that provide stable suspended pipeline system. Subsea construction at
this phase of the project accomplished by high tech methods whereby remotely operated robot technology (see
Figure 6c) was used to install anchors.
Figure 5. Sea crossing side of CWSP (taken from Kalyon website, 2018)
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Figure 6. Some of construction features of sea crossing side of CWSP project; a) Y connection, b) anchor blocks
having 220-ton weight, c) remotely operated vehicle, and d) ship carrying high capacity winch to install Y
connections (Ağıralioğlu 2016).
At Northern Cyprus side, the project includes Güzelyalı pumping station with installed capacity of 5 MW, 3
kilometers long ductile cast iron pipe with 1400 mm diameter, Geçitköy dam (Figure 7) with storage capacity of
26.5 MCM and Geçitköy pumping station with installed capacity of 16.4 MW.
Figure 7. Geçitköy dam at Northern Cyprus side of CWSP project
3.1 Overview CWSP Hydraulics
In Alaköprü Dam, maximum reservoir water level is 136 m and minimum operating level is 100 m. Water level
of Anamuryum balancing tank is 82.15 m and outlet water level of the tank is 77 m. Water level at sea entrance
valve is about 4 m. Top level of the see crossing pipeline is 250 m below from the sea level. Güzelyalı receiving
basin water level varies between 10 to 5 m and Güzelyalı pumping station water level is 6 m. Fresh water flows
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from Turkish side to Northern Cyprus side with gravity force. At Northern Cyprus side, Geçitköy Dam has a
maximum water level of 100 m and minimum operating level of 68 m. Moreover, Geçitköy pumping station has
a water level of 66 m.
The wall thickness of sea crossing HDPE pipes are 63 mm which also have an external diameter of 1600 mm
and internal diameter of 1474 mm. Flow velocity along the 23 km pipeline with 1500 mm diameter is 1.29 m/s
and can increases up to 1.39 m/s on the Sea Crossing HDPE pipeline. In case of valve at Turkish Side should
close, fresh water will be in static condition and flow will not be observed on the sea crossing pipeline. In all
cases the maximum design pressure for the sea crossing pipeline is 0.5 m. Water level at the starting part of the
sea crossing from Turkish side is about 76 m. This pipeline consists of three main section from a system point of
view: two landfalls on bottom sections and an offshore section. These sections are connected with a total of four
spool pieces. The main pressure loss on the pipeline is governed by wall friction. Also, the other elements of the
pipeline such as; Y – Pieces and Spool Pieces generate some losses on the system. All loses were calculated for
50 years’ lifetime of the HDPE pipeline. The major loss components on the system are wall friction on
transmission line, HDPE sea crossing line with an amount of 21.18 m and 66.80 m respectively (Taş 2018).
4 Evaluation of the project on the island’s current and future development/water
demand
The water transformed from Turkey to Cyprus has greatly improved the quality and quantity of the fresh and tap
water of the Northern Cyprus. This resulted in a significant increase in the living standards in the island. The
CWSP caries water from Anatolia to the island that is important for developing both Southern and Northern
regions. It has positive impact on the potable, irrigation and industrial needs of Cyprus. Based upon the quality
of the water delivered to the island, it can be used for municipal, agricultural and industrial developments. To
evaluate future water demand, population census of the Northern Cyprus was given in Table 3.
Table 3. Population by census in Northern Cyprus (DPÖ 2015).
Year
Population
Annual
Population
Growth Rate (%)
2011
286,257
1,95
2006
256,644
2,6
1996
200,587
1,7
1978
146,740
1,9
1960
104,942
1,9
1946
80,548
1,5
1931
64,245
0,5
1921
61,339
0,8
1911
56,428
1,0
1901
51,309
0,7
The table revealed that the population of Northern Cyprus is increasing continuously. The population has been
predicted to reach 464,000 – 485,000 by 2031 (KKTC 2014). The Alaköprü and Geçitköy Dams have the
capacity to take advantage of 450 million tons of water annually. The drinking and tap water usage including
losses of Northern Cyprus in 2015 was estimated to be about 55 million tons. The capacity of the installed
system is roughly 10 times larger. The water capacity of the systems indicates that it is proper for extra pipes to
be added in the future. An important amount of the population in Northern Cyprus is a result of the higher
education institutions. Water will have a large effect on the education sector in Cyprus. The estimated 74
thousand university students in 2015 will be able to reach 100,000 within 10 years thanks to the water supply
project. It is expected that the income of higher education increases from 400 million dollars to 1 billion dollars
within 10 years.
The Northern Cyprus covers 3355 km2 out of the total 9251 km2 area of the entire island. 1870 km2 of this area is
proper for vegetable and fruit cultivation. Due to the climate characteristics of the island and the land
productivity, irrigation with the water supplied will enable 2 or 3 times the crop to be harvested per year.
Through the project, a total of 167 km2 of land will be irrigated with 96 km2 at Mesarya plain and 71 km2 at
Güzelyurt with the help of the transboundary water, and the dry farming activities that have been going on for
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thousands of years will be reduced and vegetables and fruit grown with irrigated agriculture will be
implemented. The income from 1000 m2 of irrigated agriculture is equal to at least 10, at most 40000 m2 of dry
farming. Taking this into consideration, it is obvious that the contribution of the transboundary water only to
farming in the agricultural sector will be 25 times more on average in terms of income (Atun 2015). Most
importantly, the Northern Cyprus land will recover from its years of drought.
As the Northern Cyprus is a sea and sun state, the water demand of accommodation facilities is far over average
numbers. The accommodation and lodging facilities by years shown in Table 4. The expense of one m3 of treated
water is 4 TL or higher while the expense of water in its source is lower than 1 TL, which is proof of how
beneficial this project will be to the tourism sector (Atun 2015). It has become possible for the tourism sector of
the Northern Cyprus which can currently accommodate 20.000, to reach 100.000 within the next 10 years. If
100.000 accommodation capacity is reached, the unemployment problem of the Northern Cyprus could be
solved. Table 4. Accommodation and Lodging Facilities (2009 - 2013)
Year
Number of
Facilities
Number of
Accommodates
2013
132
18,443
2012
159
20,397
2011
150
19,740
2010
142
17,358
2009
134
16,177
5 Conclusion
This article reviewed CWSP futures and its effects on the future of the Cyprus Island. Based upon the results the
following suggestions are recommended.
• The project only considers 10% annual average inflow of Anamur River. Using the obtained
experiences/results of the project, the second and the third pipeline may be added to the project in the
near future.
• Using the available pipeline system, a power supply network may be added to the project which will be
beneficial to solve the electricity shortage in Northern Cyprus.
• It is well-known that all the islands on Mediterranean Sea suffer from water scarcity. This is a
successful transboundary water transmission solution/project in the region. Similar projects may be
considered to solve water scarcity problem of the other islands.
• Undoubtedly, the CWSP increased welfare condition in the island. Inasmuch as one of the main reason
behind the socio-economic problems and immigration of Cypriots was extreme droughts in the history
of the island, the CWSP not only will change this unwilling history, but also will be a milestone in the
history of the island.
• In order to sustainable use of transmitted water for the upcoming 50 years, a comprehensive water
management plan which considers both domestic and transmitted water resources is needed.
References
Ağıralioğlu, N. (2016). Kıbrıs Su Projesi ve Bölgeye Etkileri. Melisa Publishing, Istanbul.
Atun, A. (2015). Retrieved from www.ataatun.org/su-knusunda-neler-biliyoruz-4.html.
DPÖ (Devlet Planlama Örgütü) (2015)., 2015 İstatistik Yıllığı.
DSİ. (2015). Kıbrıs Su Temin Projesi, KKTC'ye Su Temin Projesi Detay Bilgileri. http://en.dsi.gov.tr/projects
Falkenmark, M., Lundqvist, J., & Widstrand, C. (1989, November). Macro‐scale water scarcity requires micro‐
scale approaches. In Natural resources forum (Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 258-267). Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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cyprus-water-supply-project.aspx
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KKTC (2014) Ülkesel Fizik Planı, Bölüm 2: Mevcut Durum ve Eğilimler.
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