2023-09-02 10:10:16
While the inhabitants of Mayotte are severely rationed in water because of the historic drought which affects their territory – the most important since 1997 – the Minister Delegate for Overseas, Philippe Vigier, traveling on the island of the ocean Indian, announced on Saturday, September 2, the emergency plan drawn up by the government to avoid a health crisis. Comprising several measures, it provides in particular for the free distribution of bottled water to the most vulnerable groups, as well as the installation of cisterns and ramps.
For several months, water has been distributed in dribs and drabs to the inhabitants of the island – 300,000 people, according to INSEE, a count that does not include undocumented people. To spare the remaining resources before the next rainy season, which will not arrive before November, the authorities restricted access to drinking water on Monday, making it available one day out of three.
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Thirty thousand people already identified
To deal with this critical situation, the Minister announced on Saturday what he presented as “a real Marshall plan for Mayotte”. “All people who are vulnerable, especially pregnant women, children, will benefit from a daily distribution of water, [à hauteur de] two liters per person. There are already 30,000 people who have been identified”said Mr. Vigier, adding that the list of beneficiary audiences will be refined with the regional health agency and the municipalities.
Fifteen cisterns will be distributed over the territory in the coming days and filled thanks to a “water treatment plant” so that there is “zero health risk”for a budget of 2.5 million euros, he also said, before adding: “In addition, 200 water ramps will be deployed on the territory. »
“That’s the emergency”he explained before recalling the work in progress, “considerable work to be done on leaks, on interconnection”between the North and the South, less rich in water, by the end of October.
The increase in the capacity of the desalination plant is scheduled for November, and five engineers have also been dispatched to the water union to accompany it at the engineering level, according to the cabinet of the ministry.
Read the report: Article reserved for our subscribers In the slums of Mayotte, a life without running water
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