MPs back farmers over borehole payments

MPs on Tuesday demanded that the government temporarily suspend charging farmers for using water from boreholes, a move farmers say could deal them the final blow and drive them out of business.

The government charges a ‘water abstraction fee’ for the use of water from boreholes. The fee is intended as a disincentive to protect the water table from over-pumping and pollution.

Farmers say the rule was never enforced until now. That delay, they point out, is not their fault. Now they’re being asked to pay up retroactively for the past nine years.

Parliamentarians heard that in recent days farmers have received notices from authorities asking them to pay their overdue fees since 2017.

The bills, which must be paid by early April, range from a few thousand euro to more than €100,000 in some cases.

Chair of the House agriculture committee Giannakis Gavriel said the timing could not be worse.

He said farmers are facing their most difficult period in decades – high electricity costs as well as the high cost of fertilizers and pesticides. This has been exacerbated by the drought of recent years.

“The water cutbacks portend a major decline in production and therefore income for farmers,” he commented.

“In an incomprehensible decision, coming at the most difficult time for agriculture, the government has sent out letters asking for tens of thousands of euro from the farmers for the fee.”

The Akel MP called on the government to suspend levying the fee “until the situation improves”.

The agriculture ministry’s permanent secretary Andreas Gregoriou confirmed the letters sent out concern amounts due since 2017.

The official was asked how the water abstraction fee is calculated if a user does not pump the entire quantity of water they have been issued a permit for.

Gregoriou explained that once a user secures a permit for drawing water from a borehole, they are responsible for installing a meter when pumping. If the meter’s reading is different to the amount of water indicated on the permit, a farmer may submit this information to have the charge adjusted accordingly.

The charge is one cent per tonne of water.

But asked whether authorities consistently check whether such meters have been installed, Gregoriou said it was practically impossible – since there are approximately 16,000 boreholes.

Precisely because authorities are unable to check, they estimate consumption and then bill farmers based on that approximation. The farmers call the process unclear and unfair.

Farmers are set to meet agriculture ministry officials on Friday to discuss their problems, including the water abstraction fee.

Gregoriou said perhaps a formula can be worked out for the overdue payments to be settled in instalments.

In another twist, the Water Development Department (WDD) informed MPs that until June 2025 it used to charge golf courses just two cents per tonne for the water abstraction fee – compared to five cents charged to households.

The reveal stunned MPs.

“So this is the government’s philosophy – that we should play golf,” remarked sarcastically Akel’s Andreas Pashiourtidis.

The two golf courses get their water from reservoirs.

After June 2025, the WDD revised the fees. It now charges eights cents for the golf courses, and six cents for households.

MPs wanted to know whether the government has asked the golf courses to pay up their aggregated water abstraction fees, as it has done with the farmers.

They also complained that, unlike farmers, the golf courses have been spared water cuts.

“Maybe we should eat grass,” Akel’s Gavriel quipped.