WAF treated water is safe from Leptospirosis

The Water Authority of Fiji has reassured customers that water treated through their water treatment plants are safe to consume and has no risk of being infected by the bacteria that spreads Leptospirosis.

WAF says all their Water Treatment Plants across all regions have a Water Safety Plan which is reviewed every three years and consists of a comprehensive risk assessment management tool which encompasses all of the steps involved in drinking water supply, from catchment to consumers. It says all risks and hazards are identified for water treatment with mitigation plans to prevent the contamination of water sources, ways to treat water so as to reduce or remove contaminants, and ways to prevent re-contamination during storage, distribution, and handling of treated water.

WAF says customers can be rest assured that raw water from the catchments that are received by the Water Treatment Plants undergoes various stages of treatment and processing and is always, as a final step, disinfected with Chlorine which kills bacteria, viruses, and protozoas, including the Leptospirosis bacteria.

Catchment water quality monitoring and surveillance is done on a quarterly basis and reported to the UNEP Head Office, under SDG 6.3.2 ‘Proportion of water bodies with good ambient water quality.