Highlights: Guadeloupe: investigations opened after “malicious acts” on water networks. 130,000 users of water and disrupted health establishments. Twelve municipalities out of the 32 in this archipelago of the French West Indies have suffered “ total or partial cuts since Tuesday evening” The repair work “ will last 10 to 12 days in the worst case,” says the prefecture of Guadelupe. “We have between 60 to 80% leaks on the network. We can't all have tap water at the same time,’ says lawyer Sabrina Cajoly of the West Indian association Kimbé Rèd FWI.

Investigations were opened on Saturday March 23 in Guadeloupe after malicious acts which deprived some 130,000 users of water and disrupted health establishments, said in a press release...

Guadeloupe: investigations opened after “malicious acts” on water networks

Investigations were opened on Saturday March 23 in Guadeloupe after malicious acts which deprived some 130,000 users of water and disrupted health establishments, the archipelago's public prosecutors said in a joint press release.

A view of Pointe-à-Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe (illustrative image). REUTERS - Ricardo Arduengo

By: RFI with AFP

“

The territorially competent gendarmerie brigades have been seized of the judicial investigations, opened for aggravated destruction and endangering the lives of others

”, announced the prosecutors of Pointe-à-Pitre and Basse-Terre, without specifying the nature of the damage.

“

Thanks to the actions in progress, water is being restored in the municipalities of Terre-de-Haut, Terre-de-Bas, Capesterre-Belle-Eau, Trois-Rivières and Petit-Bourg

,” he also specified. the prefecture of Guadeloupe on Saturday in a new situation update. “

The municipalities of Abymes, Le Gosier and Baie-Mahault are still impacted by the water cut due to damage

,” she added.

Twelve municipalities suffer cuts

Twelve municipalities out of the 32 in this archipelago of the French West Indies have suffered “

total or partial cuts since Tuesday evening

”, the prefecture indicated on Friday evening March 22, a consequence of “

deterioration committed on the drinking water distribution system

”. The repair work “

will last 10 to 12 days

” in the worst case, she said, adding that “

ninety-two pallets of water have been delivered and distributed

.”

Also read: Chlordecone, the pesticide that is poisoning the West Indies

For several days, a strike by agents of the Guadeloupe Joint Water and Sanitation Management Union (SMGEAG), a public authority in Guadeloupe, has affected the distribution of drinking water, already regularly critical, in several points. The university hospital center “

was also impacted, which could have had dramatic consequences,

” the prefecture said on Thursday. On Friday, schools and businesses closed in several municipalities, prompting the UDE-Medef employers' union and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to react, calling for rapid "

measures

Obsolete water network

Guadeloupe is experiencing, due to decades of harmful management and dilapidated networks, water cuts organized by the operator to supply the municipalities of the archipelago in turn. Since the end of 2021, a single management has tried to resolve the problems, but is experiencing numerous political and financial dysfunctions.

“

Water towers have been permanent for decades, that is to say we deprive one neighborhood of water for a given period in order to be able to supply another. We can't all have tap water at the same time in Guadeloupe,

laments lawyer Sabrina Cajoly of the West Indian association Kimbé Rèd FWI speaking to RFI.

We have between 60 to 80% leaks on the network. The average in mainland France, for example, is around 20%. This is linked to the problem of sanitation, we have nearly 80% of sanitation stations which are not up to standard. And so you have fecal matter mixing with the drinking water.

Faced with these problems of water cuts, Guadeloupe is supported by major communities and the State, in a common management roadmap around an investment plan of more than 300 million euros. Many experts estimate that it would take more than a billion euros to change the pipes which leak more than 50% of the water produced.

Guadeloupe: investigations opened after “malicious acts” on water networks

Guadeloupe: investigations opened after “malicious acts” on water networks

Twelve municipalities suffer cuts

Obsolete water network

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