Authority will undertake urgent repairs, major leakage along Vaturu-Nagado high-pressure pipeline.

Residents living in selected elevated residential areas of Nadi and Lautoka can expect water disruption from 6pm today until 6am on Monday, February 11.

The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) Board Director, Kamal Gounder, said the authority would be undertaking a partial water shutdown in the Western Division to allow repairs to a major leakage on the high-pressure water pipeline from the Vaturu Dam to the Nagado Water Treatment Plant.

“The suspected leakage is from the existing Gibault joint on the tee spigot connecting to the 711mm line. The leakage is suspected to be a result of a burst or worn out rubber from the joiner. This is a major leakage with an approximate leakage volume of 4 to 5 megalitres per day (ML/d),” Mr Gounder said.

“Therefore, WAF has decided to carry out the repairs this weekend as the leakage continues to deteriorate, and if it is left unattended it would be catastrophic, leaving thousands of customers without water supply for weeks.”

The general manager customer services and acting general manager operations, Sekove Uluinayau, said families should store enough water to last them for at least two days for drinking and cooking purposes during the partial shutdown period.

“For other purposes such as bathing, washing dishes and clothes, more water should be stored. Once households run out of the water they have stored, WAF will be placing a total of fifty, 5200-litre and 10,000-litre water tanks at strategic locations in affected areas. In addition, the authority will also attend to specific requests that will be made by domestic customers for its water carting services,” Mr Uluinayau said.

“WAF will ensure that during the partial shutdown period there will be no interruption to the major services such as hospitals, airport, schools and hotels as 17 water carting trucks will be deployed to cart water as well six four-wheel drive twin cabs carting 1000-litre water tanks to service inaccessible areas.

“Therefore, the authority is kindly requesting its customers residing in the affected areas to support this essential operation by storing sufficient amounts of water prior to the disruption as well as to use water wisely for their immediate needs during this shutdown period.”

Mr Uluinayau said the authority highly regrets any inconvenience caused to its customers and seeks the co-operation of motorists and road users to be mindful and give way as WAF water carting trucks will be moving around during the disruption period.

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