The total cost of repairing a defective polyjet valve at Nagado Water Treatment Plant in the highlands of Nadi including operations to fully restore water is around $1.6 million.

This has been confirmed by Water Authority of Fiji chief operating officer, Saman Ekanayake, during a press conference in Namaka, Nadi, yesterday.

They have issued an emergency water shutdown as a 200-strong team of engineers and support staff from Water Authority of Fiji started repair works as of yesterday.

“We have to repair it immediately because otherwise it will become a problem if it’s not fixed as soon as possible and this is why we have planned an emergency shutdown,” Mr Ekanayake said.

He said that plans were to shutdown the water treatment plant in order for his men to carry out repair works which they expected to be a 12-hour operation.

Mr Ekanayake expected  repair works to be completed by 8am today. He added that the restoration of water would take some time.

“Water restoration might take long and we’re anticipating that by Monday around 80 per cent of people will receive water, then Tuesday it will reach Korovuto and it is expected to be fully restored by Wednesday,” he said.

WAF customer services general manager Sekove Uluinayau  said about 100,000 people living along the Nadi–Lautoka corridor would be affected.

“We have distributed 200 water tanks at strategic locations, especially residential areas and we are advising people to store water just to sustain them during this shutdown period,” he said.

“A total of 63 water trucks carrying 1000 litres of water will be made available for essential services like hospitals, schools and the airport.”

Edited by Percy Kean