Water distribution continues to be problematic in Mayotte, to the point that on Monday, November 25, it was decided to extend the cuts.
Until now cut off for 26 consecutive hours every two days in this French department of the Indian Ocean hit by regular episodes of drought, tap water is inaccessible for 30 hours, according to the calendar published by the Mahoraise Water Society (SMAE). Depending on the sector of the island, tap water will now be cut off for up to two and a half days per week.
The objective is to stop the increase in consumption estimated at 5% annually by state services, while the French archipelago is affected by record population growth and technical water cuts have multiplied in recent weeks.
At the end of the dry season, which usually lasts from April to November, river catchments and underground drilling are less efficient, forcing the island’s two artificial basins, currently filled with between 30 and 40 million people.
Allow tanks to fill
In this context, “The tanks of the water purification units are being emptied, which causes technical failures”specified the prefecture of Mayotte. These have also multiplied in recent weeks, in Mamoudzou and in the north of the archipelago. “The extension of water cuts will allow the reservoirs to be filled and avoid these technical cuts”underlines the prefecture.
On the night of November 11 to 12, a technical incident caused the Ourovéni treatment plant to close, depriving half of its 321,000 inhabitants of water for more than twenty-four hours.
On Thursday, the prefecture also published an order restricting water use. It is now prohibited to fill the pool or wash the car outside of stations specially equipped for water recycling. Watering lawns and gardens is also prohibited from midnight to 6 p.m.
In late 2023 and early 2024, tap water was turned off two days out of three to cope with an unprecedented drought. The late arrival of the rainy season, in January 2024, allowed these restrictions to be progressively eased, which were never completely lifted.
