The problem of water shortage in this country is causing lots of inconveniences to many families. What are the causes of such shortage and how to ensure a better supply for our domestic use in our household? What is the Central Water Authority (CWA) doing these days for not providing us with adequate supply of water notwithstanding that most of our reservoirs are 100% filled up to the rim?

The regions that are mostly affected: Bel-Air Rivière-Sèche, Caroline in Flacq, Grand-Baie, Cap Malheureux, Péréybère, Grand-Gaube, Goodlands, Ste-Croix, Vallée-Pitot, Tranquebar, Vallée-des-Prêtres, Guibies, Beau-Bassin, Rose-Hill, Quatre-Bornes, Curepipe and Souillac, Chemin-Grenier and Camp Diable in Savanne. These are to mention only a few of these regions.

Many families are engaging themselves in a real struggle in order to get few drops of water daily for their domestic use. Cuts and irregularities in the water distribution are becoming more frequent in many regions of the country. From North to South en passant by the West of the country, residents are being deprived of water for several days, not to say months.

The supply of water is an issue that provokes debates by experts, technicians and hydrologists but never politicians. Several debates on private radios on water shortage have nonetheless had no effect on the CWA. The institution never responds to the call of the consumers’ distress. When asked to explain about the circumstances that led to water shortage, the CWA keeps maintaining the same old problems they are facing regarding old pipes and keeps reassuring the public that lots of new measures are in the pipe line to redress the situation. Such reassurance by the CWA is always false.

In certain regions like Trou D’Eau Douce, Riche-Mare and Pamplemousses people have took to the streets and protested angrily against the CWA. The question that needs asking: Why water shortage keeps persisting in Mauritius day in and day out?

According to Krisnacoomar Bisnatsingh, Chief Engineer at the Operation department of the CWA, water cuts are sometimes unavoidable, “Nous interrompons la distribution, quand la demande ne correspond pas à nos ressources. Il faut également prendre en considération les limitations de notre réseau de tuyauterie”, explained the Chief Engineer. He even said that certain regions are more affected than others and the causes of pipe damages often vary.

REAL CAUSES

Several experts agree that the shortage that affects parts of the country is beyond the control of the CWA. Parmanand Moloye d’Aqualfo Ltd is among those experts that maintains that water supply in Mauritius is a subject that needs reflection. “The situation is very alarming and there is no time for speculation as the authority needs to act very quickly. Our population is constantly growing and our water resources will be quickly limited,” he addeed.

Parmanand Moloye reckons that the real causes of water shortage in Mauritius are found in the network of its supply . “We have about 1,800 kilometres of pipes across the country which are alimented with potable water. Most of these pipes are underground during more than 50 years and their replacements have not been done since then. Some of these pipes have even been cracked due to decay,” he said. He equally explained that there has been lots of pressure on the supply network in the Urban areas. He associates this situation to the fact that over the last decades, there has been in Mauritius a non-negligible demographic movement.

There has been also report of mismanagement on water resources that needs to be taken into account. Over 20 % of water losses reveal of bad management. According to Parmanand Moloye, about 50 % of our water which is treated as potable has been wasted either by leakage or by misallocation.

It is also to be remembered that numerous engineers are affected to administrative posts rather than being used in the technical control department. It is high time that proper authorities make a study that will help evaluating the problem in its real dimension. In the meantime the government is doing a study on several projects to have a system of an increase water storage capacity to combat water shortage.