Beauchamps water treatment plant in northern France has been forced to stop pumping water for residents and the surrounding area after a mosquito outbreak has been detected.
The plant has been receiving daily water from the local municipality since January, but its water supplies were not working, prompting the plant to shut down and stop the flow for now.
It’s the second time in less than two weeks that the plant has experienced problems with water supplies, following a similar shutdown last week, when water was suddenly halted in the area and residents were advised to take precautions.
The mayor of the town of La Dordogne in the western province of Languedoc, Jean-Francois Leclerc, said water supplies have been restored to residents.
“We are working to restore the water supplies to the affected residents,” he told AFP news agency.
“In order to do this we have to be careful and to be as prudent as possible.”
France’s government is struggling to combat the spread of the mosquito-infested West African outbreak that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced more than one million.
Last week, a new outbreak was reported in the southern French city of Lyon, which is in the foothills of the Alps, and it is believed to have hit the towns water supply.
The disease has spread through the city, which had been spared the worst of the virus, and is thought to have been caused by the same mosquito-disease strain that has been plaguing northern France.