Water System: The Reservoirs Are Empty

The difficulties EDF has been experiencing since October 20 at the Public power plant are now affecting drinking water production and supply. Overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, a breakdown in one of the power plant’s older engines caused the shutdown of the water treatment plant operated by Sidem in Public. “The Colombier and Vitet reservoirs, which supply the island, are currently empty, and the booster pumps serving the higher elevations are shut down,” Saur, the company responsible for water distribution on the island, stated in a press release Thursday morning. “It will take time to return to normal distribution, to allow the reservoirs to refill and the network to stabilize,” the statement noted. “Water service will be restored gradually, sector by sector.”

On Friday, Saur issued a new press release reporting further outages that occurred “during the night of Thursday, November 5, to Friday, November 6.” These outages prevented the drinking water treatment plant from resuming operations. However, the statement noted that the machinery was expected to be brought back online “gradually throughout the morning.” Meanwhile, the storage reservoirs and the distribution network are empty. “The entire island is currently without drinking water,” Saur states, adding: “It will take at least 48 hours to replenish supplies, restore pressure to the system, and gradually resume distribution across the entire island.”

For the time being, no further announcements have been made.