THE effects of having no or little access to safe drinking water and sanitation were detrimental to the lives of Fijians.
Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Poverty, Veena Bhatnagar said this while handed over two, 500 litter water tanks to the Wainiveli Settlement in Levuka.
According to a Government statement the hand-over was a result of the REACH Project’s community based services last year in Ovalau, whereby the need to address the issue of the inaccessibility to clean water in the community was identified and a commitment was made to do so by providing them with water tanks.
Ms Bhatnagar said the assistance would be life changing for the individual families and would also complement the efforts of the Government in providing access to clean and safe drinking water in the rural areas.
“These water tanks would not only make clean water accessible to this community, but also aligns itself to the Government’s sustainability and human rights goals,” Ms Bhatnagar said.
With this initiative from the REACH Project, the Government moves towards achieving its goal to have 100 percent of Fiji’s urban population access clean and safe water by 2021; and rural and maritime areas by 2030.
Meanwhile Lovoni village chief, Ratu Petero Rogoyawa, on behalf of the community acknowledged the Government and the Ministry for reaching out to them with the vision of an improved and more fulfilling life, more so for those that fall within the vulnerable groups in their community.
