The municipality of Geroskipou on Sunday, December 29, announced legal action against Paphos district officials and the consortium that operates the Paphos water treatment plant, located near the village of Acheleya, over faults at the plant's pumping station, which resulted in the discharge of "large volumes of wastewater "in the sea.
“Despite repeated measures taken over five months, the Paphos district sewerage system continues to be flooded and the manholes located on Germanias Street near the municipal beach of Geroskipou are overflowing,” officials said.
As it turns out, this problem has been going on for more than a decade, and since the situation has reached an impasse, the municipality says it will do everything necessary to bring those responsible to justice and protect both the interests of the municipality and the safety of the population.
Officials added that due to the current situation, Germanias Street will remain closed to public transport and urged the public to avoid swimming in the area
“We call on all stakeholders, as well as the competent government authorities, to take the necessary measures to resolve this problem,” they said.
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency on Sunday, December 29, Paphos District Governor Charalambos Pittokoptis said measures were “being taken” by both the district government and the operating consortium.
He said the municipality was "absolutely right" to believe the situation was a serious problem and that the consortium "acknowledged that there are problems at the pumping station they operate."
In addition, he said, the station’s owners “are taking measures to immediately restore uninterrupted operation of the pumping station.”
“I expect that by tomorrow the existing problems will be resolved,” he added.
Sunday's announcement is not the first time the plant has generated negative media headlines. There have previously been complaints about an unpleasant odor.
The mayor of Paphos, Fedonas Fedonos, explained at the time that the waste is usually transported to a private company and then to Vasiliko where it is incinerated, and that the smell was due to the fact that for some reason the site manager stored it for several days because he had problems with the transportation contractor.”
According to him, the result was “a strong stench that reached even the airport of Paphos, Achelea and Geroskipou.”
Source: cyprus-mail.com
