Suva has a water crisis
IF you think water shortage is a new issue in Suva, think again! Showers that the weather forecasters were hoping would fall in December 1968 did not fall, causing a water shortage in the capital, the worst since 1965.
The Fiji Times of December 3 1968 said there had been “no rain for two weeks”.
“The amount of water coming from the catchment areas into the Suva water supply is now less than the quantity which is normally used each day,” a PWD spokesman said.
“Consumers are asked to cooperate in conserving water as much as possible.”
A few days later, the Laucala Bay weather office predicted showers on Thursday, December 5, 1968, but the water situation remained the same.
At 2pm, December 4 1968, statistics showed Suva consumers were using water at the rate of 4,500,000 gallons a day while only 3,900,000 gallons a day were being received at the water treatment plant from the catchment areas at Savura, Tamavua.
Reserved fell by 400,000 gallons.
The Public Works Department Water Engineer, L.Gillis, said in The Fiji Times on December 5 that legislation was being drawn up to restrict the use of water.
“If we do not get any response from the public then we will have no alternative but to shut down the water supply for a number of hours each day,” he said.
“We prefer to avoid this because it raises problems of discoloured water and the danger of mains bursting when they are refilled. This will of course mean losing a lot of water,” Mr Gillis said.
Mr Gillis said Suva used 4,200,000 gallons of water on Sunday (Nov 30), 4,650,000 gallons on Monday (Dec 1) and 4,330,000 gallons on Tuesday (Dec 2).
“Though this appears to indicate that we are receiving cooperation, this is not so because consumption on Tuesday is normally less than on Monday.”
Mr Gillis said Suva had 12,000,000 gallons of water in reserve. This was drawn on when the demand was high and replaced when there was a drop in consumption.
This water was carried on the reservoir at Tamavua Village and in a clean water reservoir at the water treatment plant.
Records kept by the PWD showed that in the 50 years up until 1968, streams that supplied Suva with water had seldom produced less than 4,500,000 gallons a day.
But since 1965, this flow had not been sustained.
Mr Gillis pointed out that the flow of creeks in the whole of Fiji had been reduced in three or four years.
“This appears to be due to the changing rainfall patterns and also to the fact that the groundwater level fell considerably in the 1965 drought and this has not yet been replenished,” Mr Gillis said.
The liner Orcades was due in Suva when this article was published on June 5, 1968.
The ship was asked by the PWD to “take on less water than she usually does in Suva because of the drought”.
“We are going to ask her master to take on as little water as she possibly can,” a water office spokesman said.