Lorient Agglomeration announced on Friday the installation of a temporary seawater desalination unit on the Ile de Groix (Morbihan). One more consequence of the lasting installation of drought throughout France.
A temporary seawater desalination unit has been installed in Groix (Morbihan) to ensure the distribution of drinking water for the inhabitants of the island, affected by drought, Lorient Agglomeration reported on Friday.
This installation aims to “meet the drinking water needs of the population of Grenoble, in the context of an exceptional drought crisis”, explained in a press release the community, competent in the production and distribution of drinking water on the island of Groix.
Installing a unit #desalination of water from #sea temporary
On the Port-Melin site in #Groix
To guarantee the continuity of the production of#water drinkable to the population
In a context of crisis #drought exceptional
+info pic.twitter.com/Kn5hL5iLeZ
— Lorient Agglo (@LorientAgglo) August 5, 2022
While some Breton islands have a pipeline with the mainland (Bréhat, Batz) or a desalination plant (Sein), Groix uses four boreholes and a dam for its drinking water, the level of which has crossed the crisis threshold this year.
“an investment of 800,000 euros”
“In view of the drought situation in winter 2021-2022, the water level did not reach the expected level at the dam, it was therefore necessary to find an alternative solution to meet water needs” , summarizes the press release.
“Two scenarios were studied: bringing in water from the mainland by boat or installing a desalination unit. For reasons of availability of the resource on the continent as well as technical problems of pumping, it is finally the solution of the installation of a unit of desalination which was privileged”, indicated the community, specifying that “this site represents an investment of 800,000 euros”.
A mobile desalination unit has also been temporarily installed in recent weeks on the island of Molène, near Ouessant, which was also suffering from a shortage of drinking water.
Much smaller, Molène has about 160 inhabitants in winter, while Groix has 2,200. In summer, the summer population triples on the first and is not far from quadrupling for the second.
