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.
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“ The territorially competent gendarmerie brigades have been seized of 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 ongoing actions, water is being restored in the municipalities of Terre-de-Haut, Terre-de-Bas, Capesterre-Belle-Eau, Trois-Rivières and Petit-Bourg “, 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 that make up this archipelago of the French Antilles are undergoing “ total or partial cuts since Tuesday evening “, indicated Friday evening March 22 the prefecture, consequence of “ damage to the drinking water distribution system “. The repair work will last 10 to 12 days » in the worst case, she clarified, adding that “ ninety-two pallets of water were delivered and distributed “.
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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 indicated 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 “ measurements » fast.
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, meaning that one neighborhood is deprived of water for a given period in order to supply another. We can’t all have tap water at the same time in Guadeloupe, deplores the lawyer Sabrina Cajoly of the West Indian association Kimbé Rèd FWI at the microphone of 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.