Fond B’Offay water now safe to be used, says PUC |30 January 2014

Water from the Fond B’Offay catchment area is now fit to be consumed, the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) has said.

This comes a day after the PUC had announced that the water catchment there had been polluted by a landslide due to recent heavy rains on Praslin and that the water was unsafe to be consumed.

As a result of the landslide, wet earth from a slope above the road fell into the river which is the water source that feeds the PUC treatment plant at Fond B’Offay.

This forced the PUC to completely close the treatment station on account of the amount of mud and red earth that have infiltrated it.

The PUC had to supply consumers in the Baie Ste Anne, Consolation and Anse La Blague areas with water from its desalination plant.

Giving an update on the current situation, Steve Mussard, managing director of the Water & Sewerage Division of PUC, said various site visits have been made together with the corporation’s partners like Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA) which runs the Vallée de Mai, the Department of Environment, the Seychelles Land Transport Agency, the Seychelles Islands Foundation to see how they can minimise or completely eliminate the risks especially on the nearby slopes or terrace that can be a danger to the water catchment there.

“I personally went there to supervise the cleaning operation on the water system at Fond B’Offay and we have managed to reopen the station to provide water to our consumers,” said Mr Mussard.

He also said that due to the good weather condition we are currently experiencing, the water situation at Fond B’Offay is stable.

“The risk is still there but the type of water being fed in the catchment is acceptable for consuming,” he said.

He informed the people in those affected areas that the PUC has already shut off the desalination plant and is running the Fond B’Offay station where water is being pumped from the river.

As this is a short-term solution, Mr Mussard said that PUC is still in discussion with its partners on the best possible way to completely solve this problem.

The Fond B’Offay water catchment is one of the three main water sources on Praslin which supply the whole Baie Ste Anne, Consolation and Anse La Blague areas.

Mr Mussard also clarified that the mud and red earth’s presence in the water caused a pollution and not a contamination as was the case at La Misère a few years ago.

                                                                           Mr Mussard