CWA considers ban on car wash

The high-level meeting involving the Central Water Authority (CWA), Water Resources Unit (WRU) and the Waste Water Management Authority (WWMA) will be held to decide whether watering plants and washing cars should be banned owing to the severe water crisis.

Outdoor water use restriction was applied earlier this year but was temporarily lifted in February due to heavy rainfall that month. Beebeejaun announced last week that the CWA is considering rationing water once every two days in Plaine Wilhems by June-end.

The drastic cuts are essential or else the largest reservoir, Mare aux Vacoas, will dry up by November. Mare aux Vacoas is currently filled at 38.1 per cent, Piton du Milieu 80.6 per cent and Midlands at 87.4 per cent.

Water cuts will continue in Plaines Wilhems, which is still receiving water once a day.

Water from Mare Longue, which was previously used for irrigation, will be channeled to La Marie Filter Plant to be distributed to residents of Plaines Wilhems.

Some 20,000 cubic metres of water will be used for this purpose. Water will also be pumped from rivers to be filtered and put into the system.

Several measures are being undertaken in the Phoenix industrial zone to extract water from aquifers. The CWA has also purchased five mobile filtration plants to pump water from several sources across the island.