The inhabitants of four villages located east of Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) are deprived of drinking water from Friday, April 14, learned Agence France-Presse from the Intercommunal Syndicate of Drinking Water Supply ( SIAEP), the local water management body.
The borehole that supplies these villages "is at the lowest level, only 30 centimeters above the pump", explained Jean-Pierre Saurie, the president of SIAEP. At this level, the drilling has reached "a sampling threshold" explain the letters distributed to the inhabitants of these municipalities. At this level, the water is no longer considered drinkable "for consumption as well as for the preparation of food eaten raw as well as for dental hygiene", specifies an SMS sent to the inhabitants, quoted by L'Indépendant.
Bouleternère, Corbère, Corbère-les-Cabanes and Saint-Michel-de-Llotes will therefore organize bottled water distributions to their 3,000 inhabitants, added Jean-Pierre Saurie.
"Two semi-trailers of water packs have been ordered"
The water will be "prohibited for consumption until the regional health agency authorizes it" specifies Gérard Soler, the mayor of Corbère-les-Cabanes, in a letter addressed to his constituents.
"Before reaching the stage where we have no water at all, we preferred to connect to an agricultural borehole, but this water is not drinkable for the moment", continued Mr. Saurie, indicating that samples will be taken during the day of Friday to determine "within the week" if the water is drinkable.
If it is not, the municipalities have enough bottles "to supply the inhabitants for ten days", and they are preparing to place new orders, assured Mr. Saurie. "Two semi-trailers of water packs have been ordered," says The Independent.
"It's exceptional, we've never had a drought like this," said Saurie, who is counting on the commissioning of a new borehole at the end of June to avoid this situation in the future.
A charter to increase water savings
On the scale of France, "the worst was avoided during the management of the drought [of] 2022" explains an interministerial inspection report made public on Tuesday April 11. However, the report warns, "such conditions could no longer be met if a similar phenomenon were to recur in the coming years, or even as early as 2023".
The department, bordering Spain, is one of the most affected in the country by drought: between September and March, the level of precipitation was halved compared to normal, according to Météo-France.
Faced with the situation, the 226 mayors of the department announced on Tuesday the establishment of a charter in which they undertake to increase water savings.
As part of an emergency action and responsibility plan in the face of drought, the charter provides for a "maximum savings plan", commune by commune, and for example, "to put in place or [to ]assist in the implementation of rainwater harvesting and [of] any individual drinking water saving system”. It has yet to be adopted by the municipal councils of the 226 municipalities, and for the moment has no equivalent in other departments, according to the prefect of the Pyrénées-Orientales, Rodrigue Furcy.
