The right to reliable sanitation and drinking water supply services is a vital issue for all populations, and one that is particularly acute in the overseas territories. The proliferation of difficulties in the 2010s was characterised by a collapse in the quality of certain services.
This led to water cuts more than every other day, in an environment prone to climatic disasters and recurrent social crises. From 2016, the State authorities implemented the ‘Eau DOM’ (Pedom) plan, intended to provide particular support to the five overseas regions and departments (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion), as well as the overseas collectivity of Saint Martin. Carried out by the Court of Accounts and the relevant regional and territorial chambers of accounts, the investigation into the implementation of this plan, eight years after its launch, provides an opportunity to take stock of how the State intervenes and to assess the state of management of this essential public service in the six territories concerned. In light of the dramatic events experienced in Mayotte in December 2024 and in Réunion in February 2025, the financial courts express the hope that the resources deployed in recent years in these territories — which are a major focus of the work presented here — have helped support the response and reconstruction efforts that began in the days following these events.
