The project for the construction of the Grand Anse Mahe water reservoir on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles is getting closer. Almost a year after the third feasibility study on the project site was carried out by the Italian company Studio Pietrangeli, the Seychelles Department of the Environment plans to present a detailed report as part of a public inspection that will last two weeks.
This 3rd feasibility study commissioned in 2017 by the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC), the company that oversees the Grand Anse Mahe dam construction project in the Seychelles, was finally carried out in 2019 by Studio Pietrangeli. The Italian company specialising in the engineering and design of dams and hydroelectric facilities completed the study in four months. The first study dates back to 1972. The second was commissioned in 1991 and carried out by GIBB, a consultancy firm based in Mauritius.
Improvement of drinking water supplies
The future water reservoir will help improve the supply of drinking water in the Grand Anse Mahe district. According to the Public Utilities Corporation, the dam, which will have a reservoir capacity of 850,000 m3, will operate a small hydroelectric power plant (122 kW). The reservoir will also provide water to a drinking water treatment plant with a capacity of 16,000 m3/day. The Italian company Studio Pietrangeli points out that a total of 9,600 m3/day of drinking water will be supplied to the inhabitants of the Grand Anse Mahe district once the project is completed. Currently, the small drinking water plant in Grand Anse Mahe provides barely 3,000 m3/day of water. In addition, the future 60 m high dam will have a 375 m3/s spillway.
Inès Magoum