June 19, 2023

Faced with an exceptional water deficit, Mayotte must save the resource, to the point that the Prefecture plans to increase the number of weekly cuts, which take place up to 6 nights out of seven, pending the next rainy season at the end of 2023.

Since June 12, a fourth weekly water cut – from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. – punctuates the daily life of the inhabitants of the archipelago of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean, which became the 101st French department in 2011. Ordinarily, “The cuts accompany the transition between the dry season and the wet season and end in February or March”, specifies an engineer specializing in water management, who wishes to remain anonymous.

4,000 m³ of water saved per day

This year, instead of disappearing, the cuts have intensified in the Island, where the State has been carrying out since the end of May an operation under the name of “Wuambushu” (recovery in Mahorais), aimed at reducing unsanitary housing, fighting once morest crime and expelling irregular migrants, mostly from the neighboring archipelago of the Comoros.

In a press release, the prefecture also announces “a fifth night tour at the end of the school year”. Before a sixth weekly cut introduced from current August, according to concordant sources. It is a question of “avoiding the peak of consumption linked to the return of school holidays and the start of the school year”, advances the engineer, specifying that Mayotte thus manages to save nearly 4,000 m³ of water per day.

Exceptional water deficit

Because the island is currently facing an exceptional water deficit. “It has never fallen so little rain since 1997,” said the prefecture. Along with rivers and streams, rainwater storage sites represent 80% of the island’s resources.

Gold ; “The Combani reservoir is currently 46% full and that of Dzoumogné 25.5%,” says Floriane Ben Hassen, head of the Mayotte meteorological center. At the same period, in 2022, the two reservoirs reached a filling rate of approximately 97%. Supplies are supplemented to the tune of 15% by groundwater and by the desalination plant, located in Petite-Terre, which produces 1,300 m³ per day, operating at only a third of its capacity.

Fragile infrastructure

However, if the lack of precipitation has created a significant rainfall deficit, drinking water production capacity is also insufficient. In total, the water treatment plants located in Grande-Terre and the desalination plant in Petite-Terre produce around 38,000 m³ per day, while consumption reaches 40,000 to 42,000 m³ daily, according to estimates.

Consumption is increasing by around 5% per year, according to the water development and management master plan. In question: the demographic evolution – population is estimated at at least 350,000 inhabitants, for 300,000 people listed –, but also the increase in the standard of living of the inhabitants. “As long as there has not been massive investment in infrastructure, water cuts will be maintained”, underlines the engineer specializing in water management. Especially since the cuts weaken the pipes of the network, which promotes leaks.

Multiple initiatives to solve the problem

To return to remedy this, the union, La Mahoraise des eaux, has made a major contract to detect the flaws. In addition, a second desalination plant – planned for several years – might see the light of day in Ironi Bé, south of Mamoudzou, in 2024. In the shorter term, the prefecture has announced “several alternative and complementary measures”. Work has therefore been undertaken to increase the capacity of the Petite-Terre desalination plant.

Storage tanks, financed by the State, have also been received and should soon be distributed to schools and healthcare establishments, which cannot be supplied with continuous water. The prefecture also provides for the distribution of water-saving kits to individuals and applies its “price-quality shield” to regulate the sale of bottled water.

A decree was also issued to be able to import water from Mauritius, despite the different standards. Today, the bottles come mainly from neighboring Reunion. Finally, small and medium-capacity osmosis units – allowing water to be desalinated – should join the territory, according to the prefecture.