Kennedy avenue residents demand action as WAF addresses months-long dirty water issue

Following serious concerns raised by Kennedy Avenue residents in Nadi about muddy water in their taps since November, the Water Authority of Fiji has confirmed that a thorough flushing of the mains was carried out yesterday afternoon to address the issue.

While speaking to fijivillage News, a resident says they have been raising this concern since last November, and the situation worsened last week.

She says her main concern is health, as drinking dirty water could lead to diarrhoea or worse.

The resident says she and her son have to buy water for drinking and cooking and rely on rainwater or use the dirty water for showering.

She add she must wait for clean water from the tap to do her washing.

While they sometimes collect rainwater for bathing and washing clothes, she asks how long they would need to continue this practice, as they pay their bills on time but receive substandard service.

While responding to questions by fijivillage News, WAF says the dirty water recently experienced by the customers along the Kennedy Avenue was due to accumulation of silt and dirty water settling at the end of the main along the reticulation in Kennedy area.

They say this was an isolated incident which was highlighted to their weekend standby team and addressed on Saturday afternoon.

WAF says to address this dirty water issue moving forward, their operations team has been advised to conduct flushing in the affected area on a daily basis to flush out accumulated dirty water and silt as the area is prone to this issue due to lower area and end of main.