Most are due to be connected and be ready to produce water within six weeks, including one that will yield 1 million litres by the end of next week on Ile Perseverance where the Indian Ocean Games will be held.

All pipework to supply the estate has been laid and a 0.5 million desalination plant is also in place as a back up along with a 200,000-litre tank whose erection is nearing completion.

Once the Ile Perseverance estate needs are met and taps are closed, the extra water from the plant will automatically flow into the network – which is already connected – to boost supply in the north east of Mahe.

Four of the plants will be installed at Providence, one at Bel Ombre and the other near the former Reef Hotel to boost supplies to Anse aux Pins and Au Cap.

Chief executive Robert Stravens of the Public Utilities Corporation gave these details with the company’s project director Ravin Sunassee yesterday.

They also talked of a new project which they hailed as a “huge success” where the company has connected 250 houses to a new source – River Hodoul – in the upper area of north eastern parts of Mahe.

They said the rains that have been falling have helped a lot, softening water restrictions in some areas and raising the volume of water in La Gogue Dam from 19 to 22%.

They issued a press release saying the company’s emergency plans for the ongoing drought are on schedule.

“The company has not sat on its hands during this drought. Since February we have held Drought Action Plan meetings, to complete projects which maximise the use of the country’s water resources.

“An example project is the River Hodoul scheme which we launched and completed quickly,” the communiqué quoted Mr Stravens as saying.

“This project has been a huge success. When rainfall is low it provides sufficient water for 50 houses in the upper areas of the north east, but with rainfall it provides for around 250 houses. Inhabitants in these areas had not received water from our network in months and each litre from this project conserves a litre from La Gogue.”

They said the company continues to investigate other sources but was disappointed to find Trois Frères river -- which had good potential to transfer large volumes to Hermitage for treatment – to be unsuitable due to pollution by septic tanks in the Sans Souci area.

“It became clear to the PUC by the middle of May that the drought was getting very severe due to continued period of no rainfall and that projects relying on rainwater would not be enough.

“We closely monitor the water supply and the long range forecast to adjust our water supply hours and to plan for the medium term. We identified that the risk of a prolonged drought was high and we could not rely on rainwater projects alone.

“We submitted to government plans to install extra desalination units on an emergency basis to have a back up water supply.

We proposed that most of PUC’s project funds for 2011 be diverted to this. Government quickly decided to accept our proposal and released the required funds for the work. On Praslin we have invested in improvements to our seawater intake. This will be completed by early August increasing our desalinated plant capacity from 700,000 litres to 900,000 litres per day. It will also allow us to install a further 500,000 litres per day unit on Praslin in August.”

Mr Sunassee said the four plants to be installed at Providence “will feed the Hermitage/La Gogue zone to prolong the reservoir use”.

“The unit to be installed at Bel Ombre will give the north west a minimum guaranteed water supply in case our catchment at Mount Simpson dries up,” he said.

“We plan to install one unit next to the Reef Hotel to feed the west coast. There is a lot of infrastructure to build to make these sites operational such as seawater intake, civil work, high voltage electricity plus many kilometres of piping to supply water to the network. The project so far is on schedule, we have already completed a lot of major site works at Providence and Ile Perseverance. We hope to start production of water in six weeks’ time.”

He said the PUC has obtained land rights at three sites and is hoping that the Beachcomber group will give its approval to use the land next to the Reef Hotel as it is difficult for the corporation to supply water to the regions from Au Cap to Anse Aux Pins.

“These projects will give a minimum amount of water as security even if the streams dry up,” said the PUC, regretting restrictions will have to continue until there is substantial rainfall.

The company said there has been increased rain during the last week which has given much needed temporary relief in many areas.

“Several streams had more flow allowing water restrictions to be lessened in many areas during the past few days, but this has had minimal impact on the water storage for the medium term.”