Mauritius to introduce water rationing measures amid shortage

As this year’s lack of rainfall brought Mauritius’ water reserves to record low levels, local authorities are scaling up water rationing measures to face what many are describing as an alarming water scarcity challenge.

The Central Water Authority has reportedly recently sent the Ministry of Energy and Utilities a draft schedule of proposed water supply hours in water-stressed areas.

The Ministry is expected to approve these recommendations in the coming days.

The villages of St-Joseph, Vallée-des-Prêtres, Tranquebar, Isidore-Rose, Grand-Sable, Petit-Sable, Bambous-Virieux, Nouvelle-France, Union-Park, L’Escalier, Mont-Roches are considered to be water-stressed areas.

These regions will be supplied with water for 6 to 12 hours (or even less) per day.

An emergency plan is expected to be activated in the coming days – which will entail drastic cuts in the northern part of the island, due to the decrease in water volume in the La Nicolière reservoir.

On the other hand, the central and western regions could temporarily be spared from drastic cuts, even if the CWA intends to reduce the water pressure at night.

As well as reducing water input, the CWA has called on residents to “show understanding” during the period of implementing these measures.

Several reservoirs currently stand at a filling rate of just below 50%.

Source: Defi Media