Permanent desalination plant
Episkopi
- Type:
- Permanent
- Capacity:
- 40,000 m³/day
- In service since:
- 2014
- District:
- Limassol
Average output
33,900
m³ a day in the week to 14 September
Running at
85%
of its 40,000 m³ a day that week
Share of desalinated water
14%
of all desalinated water on the island that week
Output week by week
Average m³ a day in each week with a published bulletin. The dashed line is the plant's capacity, 40,000 m³ a day. There is no bulletin for August.
← swipe to see the full chart →
Cyprus Water Development Department, weekly «Δελτίο Νερού» workbooks, 2026 (plant output published from June).
About
The Episkopi plant, also called the Limassol plant, stands on Episkopi Bay at the mouth of the Kouris river. The site is inside the British base at Episkopi, and the plant was built with the consent of the Bases administration. It is Limassol's only permanent plant, and its 40,000 m³ a day is below the city's summer demand.
The plant took 13 years to arrive. The cabinet chose a site at Zakaki in 1999; local communities objected, the plan moved to the Episkopi area, and the tender was suspended in 2002 when parliament did not vote the money. The cabinet approved it again in 2007. After the lowest bid was ruled out, the contract went to the next bidder at €0.8725 per m³, about €229 million over 20 years. The Auditor General named the delay as a main cause of the 2008 water crisis. Finished in June 2012, the plant stood on paid standby until its first water on 28 April 2014.
M.N. Limassol Water, owned by Mekorot and Netcom, owns and runs it until July 2032, when it passes to the state. It runs on grid electricity and stood idle for all of 2020. The cabinet decided in February 2018 to expand it to 60,000 m³ a day. This was never done, and in September 2026 the expansion was still only being examined.
Location
Other desalination plants
Main source: gov.cy