Carrying buckets of water from the creek to their homes will now be a thing of the past for the people of Galoa Island in the District of Lekutu in Bua.

This was after the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, during his recent tour to the Northern Division, promised villagers that they will be supplied with safe drinking water. Now a proper water system has been installed and villagers can turn on their tap get drinking water for their homes.

Repeka Turagabeci, who has been living in the village for more than 60 years, shared her struggles with the Fiji Sun on how past water woes affected the village and her busi­ness.

“Before, the water in the village use to flow at a low rate and when this happens sometimes I couldn’t prepare my food parcels,” Ms Turagabeci said.

“When I miss one Friday or Saturday my family’s lives are affected. This is in terms of getting my kids to school and getting food on the table.

“Now the water flow is constant and I’m able to prepare my food parcels every week. We only take a couple of steps to get water.

“To us women, water is essential and important. We use it every day, washing, cooking and getting our children ready for school,” she said.

Village member Elenoa Baselaki said children bathing and drinking from dirty water will no longer occur.

“When there is no water we use to walk to the road to get water for cooking, we also use the water on the road for bathing and washing,” she said.

According to the village nurse Karalaini Bogiono the un­protected water source contributed to health problems in the village.

“Before there were a lot of cases of diarrhoea and skin dis­ease in the village, especially with children,” Ms Bogiono said.

“Up until the water source was protected, the cases of diar­rhoea and skin disease have decreased rapidly.” she said.

The Water Authority of Fiji in an earlier statement said that 12 per cent of Fiji’s population, about 96,000 people, do not have access to clean and safe drinking water.

“This is mainly in the rural areas adding that the Rural Water Scheme aims to deliver 176 rural water projects which would benefit 49,780 people in the rural areas,” WAF state­ment said.

It also said around 220 litres of water per person per day is used by local consumers as opposed to the international average of between 150 litres to 180 litres per person per day.

The Authority is aiming to bring the average down to at most 180 litres of water per person per day under the De­mand Management programme.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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