The water treated through treatment plants are safe to consume and has no risk of being infected by the bacteria that spreads leptospirosis.
The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) made this assurance to its customers in a statement yesterday as reports of a leptospirosis outbreak, hospitalisations, and deaths were highlighted by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services on Monday.
According to WAF, it stated that all its water treatment plants across all regions had a Water Safety Plan that was reviewed every three years and consisted of a comprehensive risk assessment management tool that encompassed all of the steps involved in drinking water supply, from catchment to consumers.
“All risks and hazards are identified for water treatment with mitigation plans to prevent the contamination of water sources, ways to treat water so as to reduce or remove contaminants, and ways to prevent re-contamination during storage, distribution, and handling of treated water,” the authority stated.
“Customers can rest assured that raw water from the catchments that are received by the water treatment plants undergoes various stages of treatment and processing and is always, as a final step, disinfected with chlorine which kills bacteria, viruses, and protozoas, including the leptospirosis bacteria.”
