A limitation to deal with the situation. Measures to restrict the use of water have been taken for a month across Guadeloupe in the face of drought, the archipelago’s prefecture announced on Wednesday. Guadeloupe is suffering the full brunt of a “deficit rainfall balance since December 2022, with around 30% less precipitation,” the prefecture said in a statement on Wednesday.
The restrictions “aim to preserve the resource, primarily for the supply of drinking water to the populations”, specifies the press release. While the archipelago is going through its dry season, a “significant drop in the flow of rivers in Basse-Terre and in the level of the aquifers of Grande-Terre and Marie-Galante is observed”, as well as “difficulties in irrigation and reductions in the production of drinking water”, underlines the prefecture, which evokes a “relatively marked” drought.
A very defective drinking water network
Due to “the lack of sufficient rainfall, in recent weeks the SMGEAG (Joint Syndicate for Water Management and Sanitation of Guadeloupe) has encountered more and more difficulties in ensuring the distribution of water in part of the territory”, indicated the trade union organization. Some municipalities, which had come out of the water towers, are thus again faced with cuts. As agricultural water is also running out, farmers will also be subject to “water towers if necessary”.
In Guadeloupe, the drinking water network, very defective, leads to a loss of water before its arrival in the taps of around 60%, according to recent data published by the Water Office. Agricultural water is diverted from its primary use to supply drinking water to the archipelago.