Mavrokolympos Dam

Mavrokolympos Dam is a small earthfill dam on the Mavrokolympos river in the Paphos district of western Cyprus, a short distance inland from the Coral Bay coastline. Completed in 1966, it stands 45 metres high and holds about 2.2 million cubic metres, making it one of the older and smaller reservoirs in the national network. It was built primarily for irrigation — famously to water the banana plantations that spread across the mild coastal strip northwest of Paphos — and it continues to serve local agriculture rather than the potable supply that the region's larger dams provide.

Within the Paphos region's water system, Mavrokolympos plays a supporting role alongside the far larger Asprokremmos and Kannaviou reservoirs, capturing runoff from its own modest catchment on the western edge of the island.

The dam made national headlines in January 2025, when a corroded outlet component failed and began leaking on the order of five cubic metres per second. Engineers were forced to drain the reservoir completely for repairs — a stark illustration of the maintenance challenges facing Cyprus's ageing 1960s dams. The episode turned one of the island's least-known reservoirs into a case study in dam safety, and its subsequent refilling has been followed closely by residents and authorities alike.