As many as 700 villagers in the South end of Taveuni have been without water since the borehole pump broke down four years ago.
Village elder Laisiasa Tuimouta claimed the pump was taken for repairs and never returned to the village.
“This borehole was built six years ago by the past government and three years later, the pump broke down so Water Authority of Fiji came to take the pump,” he said.
“They told us they’ll fix it and bring it back, but we are still waiting and as a result, we don’t have any water in the village.
“Villagers have had to depend on the rain for drinking water and the sea for bathing, washing dishes and cooking.”
Most villagers, he said had purchased their own water tanks, which had helped during rainy days.
“Tanks get filled up when it rains and this supplies our drinking water while everyone uses the sea for bathing and cooking,” Mr Tuimouta said.
“WAF sends its water trucks to the village twice a week to fill our tanks, but it’s not consistent as it doesn’t come in the days when we really need water.
“But the trucks come during rainy days when they know our tanks are filled up with rainwater.”
Mr Tuimouta has pleaded with WAF to look at their situation and address the problem, as many have been affected over the past three years.
The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) clarified that the solar borehole project in the village was not implemented by them.
“It should be noted that under the Rural Water and Sanitation Policy, the Mineral Resources Department (MRD) is responsible for implementing groundwater schemes, this could be one such scheme,” WAF stated.
“Meanwhile, our teams confirm that WAF did not pull out any water pump components of the Navakawau Village Borehole system for repair. However, our team did visit and provided recommendations to the village representatives on the defects in their borehole system.”
This newspaper has sent questions to the Department of Mineral Resources.
