THE daily routine of fetching water for cooking, bathing and washing from two separate ponds for Denumanu villagers of Yadua Island in Bua is now slowly coming to pass.

What used to be several trips made daily to the ponds by family members notably reduced after the launch of their newly-built $96,000 reservoir on September 3.

The reservoir, which can hold 466,000 litres of water sourced from a spring in Votua located more than two kilometres from Denumanu Village, is today able to supply fresh, clean water to each of the 40 homes, a primary school and a kindergarten, a nursing station and the church steward’s residence.

Joy, relief and gratitude was all that could be seen among the villagers as they celebrated what has been unanimously described as a blessing, which they have strived for and anticipated over decades.

The oldest resident in the lone village of Yadua Island, Siotame Ratabua, 80, says he is the happiest man alive.

Mr Ratabua told The Fiji Times he was truly blessed to live to see this day.

He quite vividly recalls the number of attempts made to get water on tap to the village from other natural water sources over the years but came to naught.

Speaking in Namuaimada (Rakiraki) dialect, the former village headman of many years acknowledged Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s assistance in footing the $9600 one-tenth contribution to access the rural and maritime water scheme.

He said they had expressed this need during Mr Bainimarama’s official visit to the island in 2013 to launch the Yadua Rehabilitation and Relocation Project — the relocation of 19 households to a new site after their homes were destroyed by a tidal wave during Tropical Cyclone Evan.

Household head Mereia Warua said they were indeed blessed, and that their prayers and their faith had gracefully fallen in their favour.

The 68-year-old widow, who now occasionally visits the pond, said accessing water at their very doorstep brought great relief, especially for women.

She thanked God who she believes with strong confirmation has been behind their persistence to achieve this need.

Other villagers, including young women and students, shared similar stories of relief and gratitude.

School headteacher Sefo Meke said children stood to benefit greatly from this achievement — with their health and in their pursuit for academic excellence.

“They will no longer need to go to the pond very early in the morning to bath in the cold and return to their homes to dress up, punctuality will be significantly improved; and there will be less skin diseases,” he said.

The island’s health nurse Suluweti Ralulu described the project as one that would prevent occurrences of skin diseases.

“Since there is proper cooking, drinking and bathing water in the village, it will surely minimise occurrences of skin diseases and other sickness ensuring proper hygiene,” she said.

Water Authority of Fiji’s Rural and Maritime Scheme team leader Sakaraia Radovu, who officially launched the project, said the new reservoir would supplement the borehole recently installed to provide water to their homes.

The borehole is powered by solar, and supply is intermittent — switched on once or twice in a week, depending on how quick the tanks are filled to capacity.

Mr Radovu said there were challenges but he thanked both their team and the villagers for working together.

He urged villagers to continue to use water wisely, and added there were plans in progress for future work, including the possibility of implementing purification systems.

Families have been urged to use water from 6am to 7pm and have been reminded not to open their taps outside of these hours.

Last Thursday, the team from WAF returned to the island to carry out more work at the source.