The Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management has commenced water carting exercise for rural areas in the Central Division that are going through prolonged dry weather conditions.
The Commissioner Central’s Office identified 34 communities with a total population of 10,805 and 2,074 homes that needed Emergency Water Supply.
As of last Thursday, more than 400,000 litres of water had been carted to rural communities in the Central Division.
This exercise supplements water carting already carried out by the Water Authority of Fiji.
The water cartages in the Central Division targeted critical areas that had shortages of drinking water as a result of prolonged dry weather conditions.
The water trucks covered villages in Tailevu and Naitasiri including Naikalawaca, Naisausau, Nakorolevu, Tubalevu, Logani, Tobuniqio, Kumi, Naduri, Naiciri Settlement, Waidalice, Naikasakasa, Naloto, Lomaivuna, Wailase, Nabaitavo, Waibau, Wainiuraura Settlement and other villages.
Two teams have also departed Suva over the weekend with more than 300,000 litres of water to be taken to villages in Yanuca, Vatulele, Yasawa and Mamanuca.
These places are also going through prolonged dry weather conditions.
The team also took with them a desalination plant to help relieve fresh water problems on some of these islands.
The MV Vatulawa has so far transported and distributed water to the village, school and nursing station on Yanuca Island, while the MV Vunilagi had also distributed water to Yasawa-I-Rara Village and the school and nursing station on the island as part of their water cartage exercise.
The Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management has been allocated a total of $300,000 in the 2020/2021 National Budget for Emergency Water Supply.
Over the last 3 years, the Ministry has spent $1.2 million through its Emergency Water Supply programme by carting water from Viti Levu and Vanua Levu to drought hotspots in the maritime islands.
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