Water shortage: Measures taken to improve supply

The Central Water Authority has taken drastic measures since 4 January this year in the North, East, South and Lower Mare aux Vacoas with a new daily cuts calendar in water supply. As at 23 January, all consumers of the island had in one way or the other suffered from a reduced water supply.

Water cuts is a never ending issue for the population who has been promised 24/7 water supply by successive governments for way too long. Despite the billions invested in infrastructures over the years, little has improved in terms of access to a decent daily supply of water. Now that Meteo France has announced a dry spell for much of this year, Mauritians fear the worse. We sought the views of the Central Water Authority (CWA) regarding the current situation and measures which they have implemented to alleviate the situation.

The series of measures for the dry season includes the use of irrigation water following negotiations with the Irrigation Authority. Some 700 km of pipelines have been laid at Forbach to that effect, which now enables the abstraction of 4,000 m3 per day from the irrigation pipeline at Forbach & Rouge Terre. Raw water from the Irrigation Authority network is channelled to a mobile pressure filter plant installed at Rouillard. The water is treated before being injected in the Mon Loisir Rouillard (MLR) network.

With the injection of about 4,800 m3 per day of treated water into this network as from 18 November 2016, there has been an improvement in the water pressure at Swami Dayanand St, Camp Carol and Racket Road, Grand Baie and at Morcellement Swan, Les Flamants and Mont Oreb in Pereybère.

This new injection caused a number of leakages in Grand Baie and Les Flamants due to increase in pressure in the existing old pipes. Consequently, the number of request for water tankers from inhabitants of the region have decreased to more than 30%. The services of private water tankers are therefore no longer required. Complaints from the above regions have also decreased considerably with consumers expressing their satisfaction. 

To improve water supply in the lower Plaine Wilhems regions, unused boreholes have been commissioned. They are: 

The owner of the Telfair Borehole is ENL with a normal yield of 1,800 to 2,000m³ per day. In order to alleviate the problem of low pressure and no-water complaints in the region of Rose Hill, Ebene and Beau Bassin, the CWA took over the borehole from ENL to supply the water to Rose Hill reservoir. The borehole was commissioned on 20 November 2016. An additional 1,000m3 of water is currently supplying the Rose Hill reservoir to improve water supply to Rose Hill & Beau Bassin.

The commissioning of World Knits borehole at Coromandel has alleviated water problems in the regions of Richelieu, Belle Etoile and part of Coromandel with an additional 500m³ of water.

A new borehole has been commissioned in Beau Songes providing an additional 12,000 m³ of water per day in the region of Flic en Flac, Cascavelle and Bambous.

To better serve the South, measures have been implemented such as the Commissioning of a borehole at Plaine Magnien. Approximately 2,000 m³ of water per day is obtained from this borehole and was injected in the system thereby improving supply in Plaine Magnien village by an increase in pressure and particularly the lateral roads on the elevated areas which suffered a poor water supply.

The commissioning of Mon Désert borehole has improved water supply at Blue Bay, Pointe D’Esny, Mahebourg and Beau Vallon with about 3,000m³ per day. Also, desilting of Rivière des Galets dam at Valruche has been completed bringing about improvement in the Southern region.

Improvement Works

• Replacement of pipeline at Jacarandas, Tamarin to improve water supply to Carlos and Black Rock (Works in progress).
• Pipe replacement (25 km) to improve water supply in Rose Hill Town Centre (Bid document under preparation).
• Transfer of raw water from Black River (National Park) to Yemen Pumping Station – (Scope of the project has been reviewed – from Bois Noir to Yemen 1 via Pressure Filter) – In progress. Acquisition of land by Survey department – In progress

Additional general measures across the whole island

• Tanker Roster to black spot areas.
• Pipe replacement along laterals over the whole island (60km/year) under Framework Agreement.
• Replacement of defective meters (65,000) expected to be completed by July 2017.
• Implementation of Roster System to ensure a 24-hr service.

Source – Central Water Authority. 

Information provided is at 20 January 2017. It is to be noted that since 20 January there has been daily rainfall which has considerably improved water resources.