|
Cyprus Drainage
Deforestation over the centuries has damaged the
island's
drainage system and made access to a year-round supply of
water
difficult. A network of winter rivers rises in the Troodos
Mountains and flows out from them in all directions. The
Yialias
River and the Pedhieos River flow eastward across the
Mesaoria into
Famagusta Bay; the Serraghis River flows northwest through
the
Morphou plain. All of the island's rivers, however, are
dry in the
summer. An extensive system of dams and waterways has been
constructed to bring water to farming areas.
The Mesaoria is the agricultural heartland of the
island, but
its productiveness for wheat and barley depends very much
on winter
rainfall; other crops are grown under irrigation. Little
evidence
remains that this broad, central plain, open to the sea at
either
end, was once covered with rich forests whose timber was
coveted by
ancient conquerors for their sailing vessels. The
now-divided
capital of the island, Nicosia, lies in the middle of this
central
plain.
Data as of January 1991
|
