Water Development Department

European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)		Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organization (CAPO) Rural Development Program Management Authority

STATUS 4.3.3 - IMPLEMENTATION OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN IRRIGATION PROJECTS

This status concerns the installation, on a pilot basis, of clever monitoring/ assessment systems of the operation of the largest water project ever prepared by the Republic of Cyprus: the integrated southern conveyor Project ( ISCP). The project is composed of dams, water treatment plants, central channelling pipes and irrigation networks to various communities in the Districts of Limassol, Larnaca and Famagusta.

The investment shall be applied on part of ISCP and in particular, at the Kokkinochoria Irrigation Project (KIP) which has been in operation since the beginning of the 1990s. This specific section has been chosen because there is an intense agricultural activity in the area, the products of which serve the domestic requirements, while part of them are exported to other countries.
Furthermore, the aquifer of the area (Kokkinochoria- CY1) has been downgraded both qualitatively and quantitatively. The over pumping of this coastal aquifer and the fall of ground water level below a critical level, results in the penetration of sea water and its partial salinisation (Demetriou, Ch. 2008). Many years of careful management shall be required in order for the aquifer to recover and for the restoration of its good quantitative and qualitative condition. This is why a better control of irrigation water consumption in the area is required, prioritising while the efforts to improve the efficiency of water management in the area.

By adopting innovative methods and technologies which were not available during the period of the initial planning of Kokkinochoria Irrigation Project and through assessment, the partial (pilot) upgrading and modernisation of the KIP, the Status aims to:
	-	Improve the management of water and a more rational exploitation of the resources being used.
	-	Achieve a more efficient management and allocation of the resource expected to be saved from the quantities which are presently either lost from the project distribution network or are pumped without permit.
	-	Reduce the pressure exercised on the local aquifer by limiting the pumping of unlicensed quantities of water from private boreholes. A possible percentage reduction by 10% of the average irrigation water per decar of irrigated land in the Kokkinochoria area is expected. The manner in which savings arise is described in paragraph “OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF THE MEASURE”.
	-	Improvement of the services provided to farmers/ KIP consumers.

The specific objectives of the action are the following:
	-	More efficient operation of the system as any faults and unlicensed outflows of water will be identified and fixed.
	-	Protection and securing the sustainable management of water resources channelled through the project, more efficient allocation of water to the beneficiaries and resource saving.

In the field of implementation of the Status, it is possible to promote investments falling in the following categories:
	-	Supply, installation and operation of software for the optimisation of the existing irrigation network through the implementation of a demand management system, balance of water quantities and identification of losses.
	-	Supply and operation of smart loss detection systems and assessment of the existing infrastructure.
	-	Connection/ improvement/ upgrading of the existing telemetric and other data infrastructure (STN, fixed assessment Management, O&M networks and equipment) through the interconnection with the existing geographical network data base.
	-	Applications for the upgraded access to data through the internet, to serve the participants (internet info system for farmers).
	-	Procurement of services to obtain the necessary specialised technical support for the project
	-	Purchase/ installation of modern technology equipment to upgrade/ automate existing infrastructure.

For more information you may contact the Division of Design

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Period 2014-2020