For the past four months, the island of Mayotte has had almost no running water due to the drought.
On the island of Mayotte, which has a population of about 310,000 people on the east coast of Africa, residents have been facing a shortage of drinking water for the past four months due to the worst drought since 1997, CNN reported.
The amount of water in the island’s two reservoirs has reached a critical level of decrease – one of them has 7% of water left, and the other – 6%, and they are on the verge of drying up.
Local residents only have access to water for 18 hours every two days. The water is said to be contaminated and undrinkable, leading to outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the summer.
The worst drought in 26 years is being driven by the man-made climate crisis and chronic underinvestment in the island’s water supply.
Mayotte, which is 5,000 miles from mainland France, has been a French department since 2011 and has a similar legal status to other mainland French departments.
The French government responded to the crisis by sending 600,000 liters of bottled water to the island in September for the most vulnerable, and sent soldiers and civil servants to help distribute it. In addition, the French government has suspended water bills for all residents.
It has been previously reported that droughts and weak water supply policies are leading to severe water shortages in Europe, which will only worsen in the future. Italy’s largest lake, Lake Garda, has shrunk to its lowest level since 1953.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.