Lefkara at 17.9% (2.47 MCM) — essentially unchanged for weeks, above last year's 15.7%. Seasonal inflow 1.72 MCM.
- Built:
- 1973
- Height:
- 71 m
- River:
- Syriatis
- Type:
- Earthfill/Rockfill
Storage ForecastDeclining (3 years)
About the Dam
The Lefkara Dam sits on the Syriatis river in the hills of southern Cyprus, near Pano Lefkara — the mountain village famous for its handmade lace. Completed in 1973, it is a hybrid earthfill-and-rockfill embankment 71 metres high, holding up to 13.85 MCM (million cubic metres) of water.
The dam was designed by the Italian engineering firm Studio Pietrangeli, and its history tracks the island's own. It was originally conceived to supply the city of Famagusta, but after the division of Cyprus in 1974 placed Famagusta beyond reach, the reservoir was re-pointed toward Larnaca, which it has helped supply ever since.
Today Lefkara is an integral part of the Southern Conveyor system, the pipeline that carries water from the large Kouris reservoir near Limassol eastward across the island. Positioned along that route, the reservoir stores and regulates Conveyor water alongside the runoff of its own catchment, supporting potable supply and irrigation in the Larnaca region. Together with the neighbouring Dipotamos reservoir it forms the mid-course storage of the Conveyor — the buffer between the big western dams that catch Troodos runoff and the eastern districts that depend on it.