An expanded distribution, but a still critical situation. “All Mahorais will have the possibility of having bottles of mineral water” at a rate of one liter per person per day, assured the Minister of Overseas Philippe Vigier to the press during a a trip to the port of Longoni where the trucks responsible for distribution are full.
Some 330,000 liters of water will be distributed to the population every day, he said. The poorest department in France is facing its worst episode of drought since 1997, while its supply depends largely on rainwater.
Due to a lack of sufficient infrastructure and investment, the approximately 310,000 inhabitants of the French archipelago in the Indian Ocean have been living under severe water restrictions since September and the authorities have been forced to deliver bottles of water to meet the needs of the population.
Health centers and schools winning from distribution expansion
Until then, two liters of water were distributed every day to the 50,000 people considered the most vulnerable. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced the extension of this measure “to a wider public” on October 5. Nursery and primary schools not connected to the “water route”, which continuously supplies health centers and the majority of schools, will be the first to be served by the extension of distribution.
Traveling to Mayotte since Wednesday, Philippe Vigier also came to see the end of the collection work carried out on the Soulou river, in the north of the island, which did not yet supply the water distribution network. This investment of more than half a million euros will add an additional 600 cubic meters every day. The daily water needs of the Mahorese population are estimated at 43,000 cubic meters. Despite the restrictions, the population still consumes 26,000 m3 on average.