Vyzakia Dam

Vyzakia Dam is a small earthfill dam in the Nicosia district of Cyprus, impounding the Ovgos river near the village of Vyzakia on the northern foothills of the Troodos mountains. Completed in 1994, the embankment rises 37 metres and creates a reservoir with a capacity of 1.69 million cubic metres, making it one of the modest hill dams that dot the island's interior.

The dam belongs to a trio of reservoirs — together with Xyliatos and Kalopanagiotis — classified in the Nicosia region of the Cyprus Water Development Department's monitoring network. Its water is used primarily for irrigation of the surrounding farmland, supporting the villages of the area rather than any large urban supply scheme. Vyzakia is in fact one of only three dams feeding the Nicosia district, which relies far more heavily on groundwater and on transfers from the island's larger southern reservoirs.

Because its catchment is small and lies in the drier northern lee of Troodos, Vyzakia is highly sensitive to rainfall from year to year. During the severe drought of 2025 its reservoir fell to roughly 0.8 per cent of capacity by mid-summer, an episode widely reported as a symbol of the island's worsening water stress. As with all embankment dams of its generation, its long-term reliability depends on regular inspection and maintenance of the earthfill structure and its outlet works.