Authorities in Mayotte have detected a batch of defective water bottles after numerous reports in this French department in the Indian Ocean, where access to drinking water is disrupted. These are bottles of Cristaline Elena “with the smell of hydrocarbon”, indicated the Regional Health Agency (ARS) this Tuesday, May 14. She asked the population not to consume the bottles belonging to this batch, which may have been distributed in several supermarkets on the island. Neither the agency nor the island’s prefecture were able to specify the number of bottles affected.
In the 101st French department, access to drinking water is still very complicated. Water distribution to homes is only done two days out of three, due to lack of sufficient production. While water purification infrastructures produce a maximum of 40,000 m³ of water each day, consumption is currently 45,000 m³.
From August to January, running water was cut off two days out of three while the State appeared to be in a hurry by distributing free bottled water. Despite the return of rain, the population of Mayotte, where there has been a cholera epidemic for two months, is still deprived of tap water one day out of three.
