<B> World water day was celebrated yesterday. What is the situation concerning the amount of water available in Mauritius? Have we got enough reserves and facilities to meet the increasing demand?

With the heavy summer rains we've had over the last few months, the reservoirs are well above their average capacity for this time of the year. The ground water levels in the aquifers are back to normal and all our stations are operational. The water supply across the island is satisfactory and we simply need to manage our resources until December, when the season of heavy rains starts.

<B> In the SWOT analysis of the CWA corporate plan, one weakness is the high level of non-revenue water (NRW). How do you intend to solve that problem?</B>

For years the CWA has been working on a large-scale project to overcome this problem, and it has already started to deal with the high level of NRW. Some of the components of the project to reduce the level of NRW are a preparation of a master plan to study the availability of water resources and the state of pipe networks. There is also a need to upgrade in order to meet the increasing demand. These works have been entrusted to the consultant Gibbs. Then there will be the implementation of a telemetry project to improve the management of treatment works, reservoirs and pumping stations. An aggressive campaign of leak detection and repairs, as well as the replacement of old or broken domestic meters and close monitoring of demand and consumption will all contribute to decreasing the level of NRW.

<B> One of the threats we are facing is increasing water pollution. How are you going to make sure that drinking water is safe?</B>

Drinking water is treated according to the World Health Organisation norms when it leaves the treatment works. Regular checks are carried out daily at the service reservoirs and at some critical nodes in the network. The CWA operates a highly specialised laboratory responsible for water analysis and monitoring of water quality. The monitoring of other water sources, like rivers or streams is taken care of by the relevant authorities.