Water Authority of Fiji stands by water supply quality
The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) has maintained that water supply treated from all its major water treatment plants is safe for drinking and human consumption.
WAF made the clarification in response to an online report published by Mail Online last week on unsafe tap water in 187 countries, which includes Fiji.
WAF told the Fiji Sun that in Fiji there were catchment areas where raw water was trapped and pumped to treatment plants where it was treated and made safe to drink. WAF’s pumping stations and treatment plants are located around the country, where qualified engineers and technicians work 24 hours a day and seven days a week to provide clean and safe drinking water.
It said the process involved in treating water was very complex and rigorous so that it met international and World Health Organization (WHO) standards. After meeting this standard, water was then channelled to major reservoirs before being distributed to smaller service reservoirs and then distributed to customers.
WAF has a “Water Quality Monitoring Programme”, which is in compliance with the regulatory requirements from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services as stipulated in the Fiji National Drinking Water Quality Standards.
In February 2019, the water quality test carried out across all WAF’s water supply systems stood at 98 per cent compliance, this is in line with Fiji National Drinking Water Quality Standards as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) quality standards.
WAF General Manager Customer Services and Acting General Manager Operations Sekove Uluinayau said the authority was committed to providing clean and safe drinking water.
“We have procedures in place that we undertake on a daily basis throughout the country. Our water treatment plant operators do their daily dosage and they are highly trained to operate the water treatment plants as well as to carry out necessary water quality tests – this is done on a daily basis with hourly intervals. These results are documented and kept for reference and research purposes,” he said. Mr Uluinayau added that WAF was working to maintain and improve the current water infrastructure thought out the country. “Until and unless there is a break or fault with the water supply system, then we will carry out the necessary works to repair and flush the system. Water quality is only impacted or affected during heavy rain or flooding, which leads to high turbidity in raw water at the intakes because some treatment plants are semi-conventional and others in the urban or major towns and cities are full-conventional. “For all our plants we have measures in place to ensure that our water quality is maintained, from the treatment plant to the reservoirs right up to the distribution and to the customer’s taps,” Mr Uluinayau said.
Water Authority of Fiji has a “Water Quality Monitoring Programme”, which is in compliance with the regulatory requirements from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services as stipulated in the Fiji National Drinking Water Quality Standards.