WATER FOR THE FUTURE – SEYCHELLES GOVERNMENT TO EXPAND MAIN STORAGE DAM
(Posted 13th August 2014)
Good news has come from a regular source in Victoria, that the Seychelles’ government has now decided to expand the capacity of the main water storage dam by at least 60 percent. The work is due to start next year and construction of the project is estimated to take up to three years.
Water, like electricity, are two critical factors to cater for an expanding tourism industry with more resorts coming on line but also for the growing population of the main island of Mahe, which suffers from periodic water rationing.
The La Gogue dam was built in the 1970’s and while sufficient to catch rain water in those days to cater for all users, has since turned out to be too small. During the rainy season the dam often fills to the brim and then overflows, feeding streams and having fresh water run off into the sea, causing the loss of water which during the subsequent dry season is then sorely missed.
Planners have looked at future water demand, already supplemented by desalination plants, and determined that for the medium term an increase in reservoir capacity by 60 percent will fulfill Mahe’s needs for many years to come, careful use and recycling of the water of course being prerequisite.
The option of building a second major dam remains on the books but was for now, according to the source, put aside due to the cost involved.
Seychelles like many other small island states, has been affected by climate change which includes a shift in weather patterns of rainy and dry seasons and in order to protect the future of the archipelago’s mainstay economic activity, tourism, is the creation of more water storage crucially important.
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