As we move into the dry season brought in by the El Niño, Minister for Public Works Ro Filipe Tuisawau is urging all Fijians to use water carefully and deliberately as Water Authority of Fiji activates dry-weather contingency plans across all three regions.
This comes as the Fiji Meteorological Service advises that El Niño conditions are underway and that rainfall is likely to remain below normal through to the end of the year, with the driest period expected between October and December.
Ro Filipe is urging people to use water for essential purposes, avoid washing vehicles, footpaths and driveways with a running hose, filling swimming pools, or excessive garden watering, particularly during peak demand between 6am to 9am and 5pm to 8pm.
He also urges people to repair and report leaks without delay as a leaking tap, toilet or household pipe wastes significant volumes of treated water.
Visible leaks, burst mains or suspected illegal connections on the WAF network should be reported immediately.
He stresses that reduce consumption wherever you can and take shorter showers, adding turning off taps while brushing teeth or washing dishes, using buckets instead of hoses, and full washing machine loads all add up.
Large water users should put conservation plans in place.
Hotels, resorts, commercial establishments, industries and institutions are asked to review consumption and implement practical efficiency measures, including leak detection, water reuse where appropriate, and reduced lawn watering.
He says as the Minister responsible for WAF, he is assuring the public that water supply is continuing across most WAF systems nationally.
Ro Filipe further says WAF teams are also working on the ground each day to hold supply steady as dry weather continues.
WAF operates Fiji's urban and peri-urban water supply systems, and gauges 44 main operational water sources nationwide.
He says as expected in dry weather, most are yielding less than the volume their treatment plants need to run at normal output on their own, and are being supported through supplementary pumping, managed flows and other contingency measures.
Ro Filipe stresses that we as a nation have to be ready for drastic measures as the dry weather continues.
He says he has been briefed by WAF on the work already underway where across all three regions, WAF is supplementing stressed sources through additional pumping and temporary pump stations, carrying out works at pump sites so that pumping can continue at low water levels, stepping up source monitoring to weekly for sources under stress, managing pressure and pumping schedules, accelerating repair of leaks and burst mains, and deploying water carting where it is needed.
The Minister says work is also continuing on rehabilitation of intakes, development of additional sources, and longer-term drought resilience.
He says some of these measures will be noticeable to the public.
Ro Filipe says valve operations, pressure management and the rebalancing of flows between systems can result in lower water pressure, or in supply becoming intermittent in some areas at certain times of the day.
Where this occurs, he asks for the public's understanding as these are deliberate and necessary steps that allow reservoirs and trunk mains to recover, and they are what enable WAF to keep water available to as many Fijians as possible, and for as long as possible, under the operating conditions this dry spell has created.
He further says WAF is working closely with the Fiji Meteorological Service and other agencies so that the response can be scaled as conditions evolve.
Ro Filipe says he has asked WAF to provide his office with regular public updates on water source conditions, and to give advance notice through its official channels wherever a change to supply is expected in any area.
He has thanked all Fijians in advance for their cooperation, adding every litre conserved today helps ensure that water remains available to households, businesses, schools, hospitals and communities throughout this dry period.
