About Kalavasos Dam

Kalavasos dam lies in the Larnaca district on the Vasilikos River, in a gently rolling landscape between the Troodos foothills and Cyprus's southern coast. Completed in 1985 with a capacity of 17.1 MCM and standing 60 metres tall, the earth-fill dam was constructed as part of the broader expansion of water storage capacity across the south of the island during the 1980s. The Vasilikos River catchment is one of the more easterly draining systems on the southern slopes of the Troodos, and its rainfall regime is notably drier than the western mountain catchments — annual averages in the mid-300s of millimetres are typical, meaning Kalavasos depends heavily on intense winter storms to replenish its storage. The dam serves a diverse set of water users: the Vasilikos industrial zone — home to the Vasilikos power station and cement works — draws significant process water from the reservoir, while local agriculture also depends on seasonal irrigation allocations. Kalavasos also functions as a feeder point for the Southern Conveyor Project, supplementing water deliveries to the drier Larnaca and Famagusta districts further east. The area around the dam is archaeologically rich: the Neolithic settlement of Kalavasos-Tenta, one of Cyprus's most significant prehistoric sites, lies within a few kilometres, and the region has yielded substantial evidence of Bronze Age copper smelting. During droughts, the retreating reservoir occasionally exposes sediment layers that contain archaeological material, drawing attention from the Department of Antiquities. The dam itself is accessible via a scenic road that passes through vineyards and carob orchards characteristic of this transitional zone between the mountains and the coast.