The Water Development Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment has been designated as the Competent Authority for the implementation of Framework Directive on Water (FDW). One of the important stages of the implementation of the Directive are the measures that Member States may choose to enact for every river catchment area for the improvement of the water systems within the framework of the programme of measures required under Article 11 paragraph 4.

In accordance with the above article of the FDW, a Detailed Programme of Measures for Cyprus has been established in 2011 composed of 153 measures aiming to achieve the environmental objectives of the Directive and achieve at last a Good status of surface water until 2015. Water systems which are in a status lower than Good and must be improved, have been determined in 2009 following the assessment of the results of monitoring programmes for surface water within the framework of article 8 of the FDW.

Two of the most important measures are measures 86 and 87 of the Detailed Programme of Measures regarding the restoration of hydro morphological and riparian characteristics at rivers. The WDD awarded contract YY09/2012 to planning consultants, the object of which is the procurement of specialised services for the determination of actions for the hydro morphological restoration and restoration of riparian water body zones (WS), the preparation of the relevant Preliminary Environmental Impact Reports (PEIR) and the monitoring of the implementation of the projects to be approved by the Contracting Authority.

The actions determined in the above contract are carried out in stages since 2013.