President Louis Mussington speaking about the water crisis on Wednesday. (Robert Luckock photo)
MARIGOT--Collectivité President Louis Mussington disclosed Wednesday at a press conference that European funds of 10-million euros set aside for construction of the new water plant will be diverted to carrying out urgent repairs to the existing desalination plant which has long outlived its lifespan, requiring constant maintenance and repairs.
He said restoring water into the taps for the population is an “absolute priority”. Following a breakdown at the Galisbay water facility drinking water rationing has been in effect since March 24 with cuts affecting all districts of the French side due to significant reduction in capacity, as well as a ban on any non-essential usage.
“Reconstruction of the plant is a major issue and we are committed to it, but some of the funds must be used as soon as possible to carry out the urgent work at risk of losing European funds by December 31, 2026, if not used by the deadline,” he said. The funding programme however will come around again.
Discussions are underway with Water Authority EEASM and producer/distributor Saur Saint Martin to define these priorities. Part of the repairs include two new water pumps that have to be ordered and a production mobile unit put back into service.
The cooperation agreement signed in 2023 with Sint Maarten on provision of drinking water, through the connections at Oyster Pond and Bellevue also has to be revisited.
To use the drinking water from the Dutch side it first has to be tested by the Regional Health Agency ARS for quality before approval is given. Mussington noted ARS has argued that water from the Dutch side does not conform to European norms. However the ministry from Paris has given the green light to use the water from the Dutch side. He hopes the ARS conclusion will be favourable.
Questioned on what had been done during the first water crisis a few years ago to prevent this situation from happening again, Mussington replied: “At that time we invested 700,000 euros on rewiring the system and we purchased two pumps for 800,000 euros. It bothers me to hear that I neglected the whole situation. It’s totally unfounded, I made interventions and did what I had to do. EEASM has stated it was proven by audit that SAUR did not live up to expectations.”
He said he wanted to avoid a possible conflict between SAUR and EEASM because ultimately SAUR has to do the emergency work
President of EEASM, Raphaël Sanchez, in an interview with newspaper 97150 gave some context on the situation. In 2022, two new high-pressure pumps were installed and a mobile unit was made available to SAUR but was not included in the contract signed in 2018 with the Collectivité, so SAUR did not ensure its maintenance. SAUR now has to put the mobile unit back into operation, but this may take two weeks.
EEASM has also carried out security work to keep the old plant in operation until the new one is put into operation; The network is renovated by section and no longer by reassessment. The 35 million euro project was presented to the Collectivité and the Prefecture and validated.
The French Development Agency (AFD), the State, the Banque des Territoires and the Collectivité signed an agreement in January 2025 stipulating that part of the financing would include private funds, that the State (ERDF fund) would participate to the tune of 10 million euros, and that the Collectivité would contribute 12 million euros. The first 6 million euros should have been paid in 2025 to start work the same year.
The State is ready to pay its funds to get started as soon as possible and the AFD is supporting EEASM on the engineering and the studies part, which have also been launched.
The land on which the plant will be built is the one occupied until now by the Soremar Kia concession. The Collectivité still has to transfer the land to EEASM.
Mussington added the funds for emergency repairs at the water plant will also be used for repairs to the sewage treatment plant in French Quarter.
