Repair need cuts water supply in Suva, Nausori
Some residents in the greater Suva and Nausori areas have been without water for at least a week as the Water Authority of Fiji repairs damages to the Waila Pumping Station. Residents in Wailoku, Samabula, Princes Road, Cunningham, Tamavua, Veisari, Lami and Delainavesi have been patient, but, as the days without water gets longer, their patience is also drying up.
Some are visiting relatives to have a bath and are carting water from there as well. Others say water trucks have been coming while some claimed there have been no water trucks visiting their areas.
Nai Lewanavanua of Wailoku is thankful that the Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) was sending water trucks for the past few days.
“We can live without electricity, but cannot live without water because it is one of the necessities,” she said.
Ms Lewanavanua said she had been having water
Thursday afternoon.
“I had to wake up at four in the morning to fill empty buckets because the water pressure was low from 3am till 6am. By 6am, there is no water at all,” she said.
Mere Dyer, also of Wailoku, said she was informed by WAF that there were low water levels. “They said the water was very low in the reservoir,” she said. Ms Dyer said her family managed to get some water from her sister-in-law in Nabua.
In a statement, WAF said only cuts since pump number one and four were operating at the Waila Pumping Station, while pump number three was being repaired after sustaining damage to its shaft and bearing.
Chief executive officer Barry Omundson said the fault was caused by silt and debris inside the pumping gallery and when they were sucked into the pump it caused the pump to seize and lock up.
Repair works continued yesterday.