While Indre was placed on heat wave orange vigilance by Météo-France for Friday June 17 and Saturday June 18, and the thermometer could climb to 39 ° C in the shade in the department, 25,000 inhabitants of Châteauroux find themselves deprived of tap water. In the north of the city, the water is unfit for consumption after contamination by the bacteria Escherichia coli, Châteauroux Métropole announced on Friday.
The consumption of water for food use (drinking, food preparation, brushing teeth) is now prohibited until at least Sunday 6 p.m., she said. Infants should also not be washed with this water. Even boiled, water should not be consumed. But it can, once cooled, be used to clean fruits and vegetables.
The city has launched its municipal safeguard plan and set up, with the water network manager SAUR, a distribution of bottled water packs in four centers open to the general public. The mayor of Châteauroux, Gil Avérous, explained on Franceinfo on Saturday that “125,000 bottles were distributed” Friday. Moreover, the “vulnerable people” were contacted and bottles of water were delivered to establishments receiving the elderly, he said.
New analyzes scheduled for Sunday
Returning to the reasons for water contamination, Gil Avérous mentioned “a succession of anomalies”which originates “a malfunction of the chlorine diffusion system in the water [qui] stopped earlier this week. “The alarm did not go off, it took some time to be spotted, and we ended up with untreated water distributed, which allowed this bacteria to proliferate”explained the mayor.
The latter, however, wanted to be reassuring. “The latest analyzes are rather reassuring”warned Gil Avérous, specifying that the bacterium “is in low presence in the water”.
The results of a new analysis are expected on Sunday “no later than 6 p.m.”. The ban could be lifted at the end of the analyses. By early Friday evening, no casualties or hospitalizations were reported, according to the city. Saturday, at midday, “there has been no increase in people having encountered digestive problems”, explained the mayor of the city.