How many reservoir in mauritius

Some regions have only two or three hours of water per day. That is definitely not enough. At least during daytime there should be running water in every household. Pressure matters too. If it is too low, dirty water can enter the pipes, because they are very old and not properly maintained. The shortages occur mostly in the dry season. After two or three months with limited rain — which we experience every year — the water in the reservoirs is low.

What is the solution? I see two possibilities: one is to store more water. For that purpose, more reservoirs must be built. The other option is to cut the losses — and thus double the amount of water available for use. For a start, the old pipes should be replaced. Both options cost a lot of money. That is why I am not very optimistic that either one of them will materialise. Why not? Moreover, the first six cubic metres per month are free of charge. The Central Water Authority, which is in charge of the distribution system, does not generate enough revenue to significantly improve the infrastructure.

On the other hand, the Water Resources Unit at the Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities, which is in charge of building reservoirs, is completely dependent on public money. So either way does not work without the state paying for it — and unfortunately, water is only one of the many priorities of the government, competing with other infrastructural development. From your point of view, is there a way to achieve good water supply in spite of the financial problems?

The whole system must change. Water should not be free — you have to pay for what you use. The provision of water to the people includes the storage and distribution system.

Once a good storage system is in place, it is available for everyone. People tend to think that water would flow naturally to them, but one way or another, infrastructures must be paid for. The right water price will make people waste less, more-over. Billions of rupees are needed to construct the necessary dams and reservoirs and to maintain the distribution network. In the past 15 years, only one single dam has been constructed in Mauritius.

The equation is simple: no funds, no dams. However, all politicians know that it would be a hard sell. That said, I did research on whether households would be willing to pay more if water supply was made more reliable through improvements in storage and distribution.

But would uninterrupted water supply not help to win votes? In the past term, a scheme to subsidise the purchase of water tanks was introduced. This was what it did to solve the water shortage problem. The vast majority of households now have a tank. According to the census of , the last reliable data we have, it was almost half of the households back then, but this figure must be much higher at present.

So when there is no water supply from the public system, people can use the stored water. Installation and maintenance cost money moreover, so the poorest people lose out. The scheme has created a disparity among those who can afford a tank and those who cannot, leading to different standards of living.

However, this scheme is conducive from the perspective of politicians who want to make people happy with continuous supply of water. What about commercial users?

Major consumers in agriculture, the garment industry and tourism are encouraged to harvest their own water. They need uninterrupted water supply, so their motivation is strong to install their own systems to catch and store water. You can see a lot of them on the island. That sounds like a dead-end situation. Yes, and it will even get worse. The demand will surely go up, so water shortages are set to increase.

Reasons include population growth, more tourists coming to Mauritius and more foreigners settling here since they are now allowed to buy apartments.

So the pressure on the water system will grow. What about climate change? Does that play a role too? It definitely does. The rains used to set in early in January. Now they start at the end of January. Climate change is shifting the seasons, and the dry period, in which we have problems with the water supply, is getting longer.

The other thing is that we now experience torrential rains more often than we used to. After two or three hours of heavy downpour everything is flooded. That is a new challenge. There is more rain, but on fewer days. Most of that water goes directly into the sea. We must find a way to capture it.

The floodings seem to be severe, causing a lot of damage and hardship. Is the drainage system up to task? No, it is old and not well maintained. Open drains get blocked by debris when there is a storm. Too much urbanisation and too much land sealing play a role too.

We Mauritians are not good at planning ahead; we just react to what happens, for instance, when there is a natural disaster. In , we had severe flooding which caused the death of 11 people in Port Louis, the capital city.

In response, the Natural Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre was established and a warning system installed. Digitalisation and advanced technologies must be applied to map water flows, understand ecological dynamics, assess vulnerability, forecast changes in land uses et cetera.

Besides, the people do not check the warning system regularly. Episodes of flooding after every heavy rain prove the severity of this problem. Links Peeroo, A. Toward sustainable management of a natural resource. Sultan, R. The case of Mauritius. International Journal of Critical Accounting forthcoming.

The carrying capacity of the canal is presently 4. In , with the contribution of the Tatamaka Feeder Canal, the reservoir capacity was further raised to In , Parc aux Cerf Feeder Canal was constructed to divert flow from the upper catchment area of River Citron and North East part of the local catchment.

The average annual contribution of the canal is 1. Its annual contribution is estimated as 4 to 5 Mm3. A hydrographic survey of the reservoir was carried out for the first time in the year , and the gross storage capacity of the reservoir determined as The dam was comprehensively rehabilitated in the year Salient features of MAV Dam Location : Across marshy area, called Mare aux Vacoas in the district of Plaines Wilhems and about 25 kms South of Port Louis In , height and capacity increased in stages in , , , , and finally in E And R.

E Catchment A03 Ec Riv. Du Rempart 27 0. Its water is used for domestic, industrial and irrigation. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 5.

The annual average regulated yield from the reservoir of 3 3 the order of 30 Mm has increased by about 41 Mm after the contrustion of Midlands Dam in December Vacoas Spills into Riv. It is fed mainly from River Vacoas and Bateau. It serves water for domestic use in the East District Water Supply system. Des Aigrettes : Spills into Riv. Bambous Riv. Des Aigrettes Feeder No.

It receives water from three feeders, the main one being River des Aigrettes. The storage water is used for hydro power generation at Tamarind and Magenta power stations and thereafter for irrigation. Twinam History Notes The Midlands Dam site was chosen at the beginning of the twentieth century to create a reservoir. Works started in but were stopped in due to scarcity of funds.

Due to an increase in water requirement, the Government commissioned a study in with a view to finding an optimal solution to meet the water demand of the northern districts of Mauritius.