Water supply restoration to people will take time – Usamate

Minister for Infrastructure Jone Usamate says water production at the Tamavua Water Treatment Plant has normalised however water supply restoration to people will take time to normalise as pressure builds up within the system.

Speaking to fijivillage, Usamate says, unfortunately, water supply restoration works are not similar to power supply restoration whereby services are restored immediately as the repair and remedial works are completed.

Usamate adds with water supply systems, service restoration takes time as the pressure within pipelines builds up slowly and in the case of the Tamavua disruption, WAF is expecting pockets from the affected areas to still be facing issues as the pressure slowly builds within the system.

He says WAF is encouraging customers in these areas to lodge a complaint with the WAF call centre so the operations team can focus the service restoration works such as valve operations and flushing works in these areas.

Usamate adds the turbidity they are talking about is in reference to the amount of silt and soil sediments that gets washed into major rivers when it starts raining.

He says the control of human activities within the water catchments is the solution to resolving turbidity issues however this option is not available at the Waimanu River as multiple villages and communities are located upstream of the intake and undertake farming activities to support their livelihood.

Usamate further says to mitigate this, the government has invested in the Viria Project to assist in the injection of additional water supply.

He adds excessive turbidity is experienced at the beginning of every rainy season as silt and dust from the dry period gets deposited into major rivers by floodwaters and runoffs.