Nicosia -- Cyprus will import from Greece some 8 million cubic meters of water this summer to tackle the serious drought the east Mediterranean island is facing, Agriculture Minister Michalis Polynikis said on Monday.

Under a contract the government signed with a local shipping company, Greek water will be ferried to Cyprus from June to November to ease the shortage.

The minister added that they were also looking at other ways to deal with the drought, such as building more desalination plants.

Cyprus has been hit by drought for the past four years due to lack of rainfall and hot weather. Official figures show that on Monday, the water in the island's dams fell to 26.8 million cubic meters, or just 9.8 percent of the total storage capacity.

Following water cut from time to time to farms, the government started late March to reduce water supply to networks for cities by 30 percent. Now households can only get running water 12 hours every two days to refill their tanks on the roof.

Only state hospitals can have continuous water supply. The serious situation has prompted many households and restaurants to install extra tanks, which deals a further blow to houses located on upper land due to lower water pressure.