2023-10-05 20:45:32
Soldiers unload a ship that docked in Longoni loaded with 600,000 liters of bottled water which will be distributed to the most vulnerable people in the department, in Mayotte, September 20, 2023. CHAFION MADI / AFP
Holding out until November and its first significant rains, this was the objective stated by the State in the dramatic water crisis in Mayotte. The worsening of the situation, however, changes the situation and forces him to take new measures, which he announced on Thursday October 5, at the end of an interministerial meeting in Matignon: payment by the State of the invoices for September to December, “given the very significant deterioration of the service provided to the public” ; new water delivery by boat and tanker from the ports of Marseille, Le Havre and Reunion Island; and by then « mid-November »distribution of free bottles to others than the 51,000 people identified as vulnerable, already served.
“Three hundred soldiers and civilians will be deployed in Mayotte to ensure the logistics of this distribution”explains the press release from the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, who invokes “a duty of national solidarity for the benefit of the Mahorese population”. The vast majority of additional supplies will come from France. The entire strategic stocks of Reunion Island can be mobilized. The current decisions will not impact the department’s water supply.
“We are in a race against time. We have to hold out until January”, specifies the Minister Delegate for Overseas, Philippe Vigier. Neither rain nor a return to normal of the network are expected before the start of 2024. On the island, everyone fears the “zero drop” at the tap before new water supplies.
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The cuts imposed two days out of three since September 4 and the installation of water ramps were not enough to alleviate the shortage. Daily needs, estimated at 44,000 cubic meters, cannot be met by water production, less than 20,000 cubic meters per day, while leaks and illegal withdrawals from the network are estimated at 15,000 cubic meters per day. . The hill reservoirs have never been so lightly filled and will be dry at the end of October “as things currently stand”recognizes the prefect of the department, Thierry Suquet.
“We are going to ask for increasingly significant efforts”, agreed Philippe Vigier, who expects local elected officials to get the message across to the population during his visit on September 27 and 28. One of the scenarios envisaged from mid-October is a halving of supply periods: two fifteen-hour connections per week are planned.
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