Suva residents to experience water woes
MORE than 100,000 people in Suva will be affected by water supply issues as the heavy downpour continues to affect several reservoirs within the Capital City.
Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) said yesterday the continuous heavy rain had caused flooding and blockages at three major pumping stations in the Central Division.
WAF chief operating officer Seru Soderberg said the downpour experienced over the Central Division this week have had a negative impact on the Savura and Waimanu Raw Water Pump stations.
Mr Soderberg said heavy rain experienced on Monday caused blockages at the Tamavua and Waila Raw Water stations, causing a massive reduction in supply to 11 reservoirs in the greater Suva area.
“Between 2pm and 6pm (on Monday) our Waimanu catchment received a total of 30mm of rainfall over the span of four hours,” he said.
“This particular rain event caused heavy flooding at our raw water intakes at Waimanu, Waila and Savura.
“With this rain event what we also encountered at our raw water intakes and at our treatment plants at Waila and Tamavua was an increase in turbidity levels.”
He said on top of the flooding, the authority was also experiencing blockages of intake screens at the Tamavua and Waila Raw Water Pump stations.
“At the Tamavua Water Treatment Plant our raw water inflow had reduced from 70 megalitres per day to 41 megalitres a day and at our Waila Water Treatment Plant, out raw water inflow has reduced from 100 megalitres per day to 80 megalitres per day.
“This reduction in inflow is affecting our ability to produce enough water to replenish and sustain the levels at our reservoirs namely the Wainibuku reservoir, Tovata, Kalabu, Nasinu, Flagstaff, Toorak, Shipping and the Tamavua as well as the Nagatugatu, Tacirua, Dokanisuva and the Colo-iSuva reservoirs.
“It is because of this that supply to customers will be affected if we are unable to clear our raw water intake.”
Mr Soderberg said once it was safe, divers would then be allowed to enter the flooded areas to clear out debris.
He said customers would experience intermittent supply until the issue has been fixed.