PUC installs water tanks to help ease water supply |14 June 2013

These water storage tanks, commonly known as GRP tanks, have a volume capacity ranging from 1000 to 2000 cubic metres and it is hoped that they will be of great help in reducing the problems associated with water shortages in some areas during the dry season.

Tanks have already been installed at Cascade, Anse Boileau and Ma Constance, and another will shortly be fixed at Fond Boffay on Praslin.

According to PUC’s construction engineer Franky Dupres, those locations were chosen because they already host water treatment stations which make connection to the existing distribution network easier.

He cited limited storage facilities and the rise in water demand as the reasons for PUC to opt for the water tanks.

“The new water tanks will help as the reservoirs, which in many cases were built more than thirty years ago, have become too small. In the case of Praslin, we only have treatment centres and no proper reservoirs. In normal times, water is flowed into the distribution system after being collected from rivers and treated. In the dry season, as the rivers do not contain enough water, more water has to be stored,” he explained.

Mr Dupres however said that, as is the case now, some areas will continue to face water shortage as water has to be pumped from low lying areas to upper zones.

“This is why for example we have to restrict distribution in areas like Mont Buxton, Upper Union Vale, Maldives, La Gogue and Upper North East Point,” he said.

PUC hopes that the newly installed water tanks will immediately help ease water supply in the following areas: the east coast of Mahé from Hermitage to Anse Royale; the south and southwest including Bougainville, Takamaka, Baie Lazare and Anse Boileau; Ma Constance to Glacis in the North, as well as Baie Sainte Anne on Praslin.
PUC hopes to also improve the situation at Grand Anse Praslin in the near future.

Among future plans, the corporation will soon be able to transfer raw water from Le Niol to La Gogue dam, where a new treatment centre will be built.