Five dams north of the Troodos mountains are full. As the island debates water restrictions, Nicosia's mountain reservoirs have quietly recorded one of their best seasons in a decade — Xyliatos, Kalopanagiotis, Klirou-Malounta, Solea, and Tamassos all overflowing.
Cyprus's water crisis is real — but it is not uniformly distributed. While the southern coast remains gripped by shortage and Achna sits at 2%, a different story is playing out in the hills north of Troodos. As of 31 March 2026, five dams serving Nicosia and the island's groundwater recharge network are all at 100% capacity. For this region, the drought is over.
The Five Dams: Where They Stand
| Dam | Capacity (mln. m³) | 31 March 2026 | Last Year (31 March) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xyliatos | 1.430 | 100.0% (overflowing) | 22.9% |
| Kalopanagiotis | 0.363 | 100.0% (overflowing) | 86.8% |
| Klirou-Malounta | 2.000 | 100.0% (overflowing) | 73.6% |
| Solea | 4.454 | 100.0% (overflowing) | 67.0% |
| Tamassos | 2.800 | 100.0% (overflowing) | 37.2% |
| Total | 11.047 | 100.0% | ~57% |
The transformation is most striking at Xyliatos: a year ago this dam sat at a bare 22.9%, holding just 0.328 mln. m³. It has since accumulated 1.41 mln. m³ of inflow — essentially refilling from near-empty to full in a single season. Tamassos is equally dramatic: it has leaped from 37.2% to overflowing, nearly tripling its stored volume compared to the same date last year.
Why the North Fills First
The geography of water in Cyprus is not symmetric. The northern slopes of the Troodos — drained by rivers flowing toward Nicosia and the Mesaoria plain — receive a different rainfall pattern than the southern coast. When Atlantic-track depressions pass north of the island, northern catchments receive disproportionately heavy precipitation while the south gets a fraction.
The Solea valley (feeding Solea Dam), the Klirou basin, and the Kalopanagiotis headwaters sit at elevations of 600–1,200 m — high enough to benefit from orographic lift that dramatically increases precipitation over the northern Troodos. This winter's succession of rainfall events hit these catchments repeatedly and hard.
What This Means for Nicosia
Nicosia relies on a combination of Southern Conveyor water (pumped 36.5 km north from the Tersefanou treatment plant), local dam supply, and groundwater. The recharge dams — Tamassos, Klirou-Malounta, and Solea — are not primarily extraction points: they feed into the Yialias and Pedaios river systems, replenishing the aquifers under the Mesaoria plain that supply Nicosia's wells and supplementary groundwater sources.
Full recharge dams mean the aquifer is being actively replenished. Even after surface extraction eases off in summer, the underground reservoir below Nicosia will carry a meaningful surplus compared to recent drought years. This is not visible on Fragmata's dam dashboard — but it matters.
The two Nicosia district dams proper — Xyliatos and Kalopanagiotis — have a combined capacity of just 1.793 mln. m³, small compared to the southern giants. But their overflow signals something important: the entire north Troodos catchment has had more water than it can hold. That excess is now in the rivers, in the soil, and in the groundwater.
The Two-Speed Island
The contrast with the south is stark. As of 31 March:
- Achna — 2.0% (zero inflow all season; entirely desalination-dependent)
- Kalavasos — ~8% (being deliberately drained by the Southern Conveyor)
- Lefkara — well below last year's levels
The island's 10% water supply cut remains island-wide, and rightfully so — Limassol, Larnaca, and Famagusta remain vulnerable. But the narrative of uniform drought no longer holds. Cyprus in late March 2026 is a tale of two water systems: a recovering north and a still-stressed south. Desalination continues to carry the south, buying time. The north is buying itself a cushion.
Author: Vladimir Bugay, Fragmata developer Data: Cyprus Water Development Department, report of 31 March 2026. Dam level data updated daily at fragmata.info.