2023-10-12 19:43:16
Olivier Serva, deputy for Guadeloupe from the LIOT group, during the question session to the government, at the National Assembly, October 10, 2023. XOSE BOUZAS
“It’s the shit water we can drink in Guadeloupe today”, launched Olivier Serva, on October 10, in the hemicycle of the National Assembly, to the Minister Delegate for Overseas Affairs, Philippe Vigier. Translate : “In Guadeloupe today, we drink poop. » The question from the Guadeloupean MP from the Libertés, Independents, Overseas and Territories group focused on the supply and quality of water on the Antilles island, which remains complicated and problematic, despite the creation, in 2021, of a unique water union that promised to tackle the problem head on.
At the beginning of October, the passage of tropical storm Philippe over the archipelago increased the difficulties, with water cuts for 100,000 inhabitants. A problem which had not yet been resolved on Monday October 9. However, reports of water cuts and prohibitions on consuming it – for drinking, cooking food or certain hygienic acts, such as brushing your teeth – are regularly made by the Joint Water Management Union. water and sanitation of Guadeloupe (SMGEAG). Since the beginning of October alone, five water pollution alerts have been launched by the union, after checks by the regional health agency, over several days.
In response, still on October 9, the mayors of Pointe-à-Pitre and Abymes decided to close the schools and daycare centers in their respective cities. The information broke on Sunday evening, embarrassing hundreds of families. The school closure operation was repeated on Thursday October 12, in Les Abymes, for many of them. As for those that remain open, they remain partially open: the canteen keeps its doors closed.
Read also: Guadeloupe: closure of schools in Pointe-à-Pitre and Les Abymes due to an alert on water quality
Additional cost for families
On Wednesday, it was the mayor of Sainte-Rose who, noting the absence of water in his town, decided to close “all public services”he explained in a press release criticizing a now recurring strike by agents of the joint water management union. “This is similar to a political movement, endangering others and a clear desire to cause harm”, deplores the city councilor. Because water crises are not all due to breakdowns in factories, on the network or to pollution. The strikes also disrupt the smooth running of the SMGEAG which, since its creation, raised salary issues that remain unresolved. In fact, union agents are not all governed by the same labor law, some coming from private companies and others from public companies.
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