Geoscience Australia is working with the Mineral Resources Department (MRD) to identify areas with sufficient aquifers that could supply water to nearby communities.
In Parliament on Monday, Lands and Mineral Resources Minister Filimoni Vosarogo said a new high-tech equipment was acquired to identify these areas and provide government with information on the mineral composition of these water sources.
“I have had a good briefing from Geoscience Australia before the equipment was flown into Fiji, and I can tell you and the Members of Parliament that this technology is top edge,” Mr Vosarogo said.
“It is designed to give you maximum output of information and I think with the colourings, they are also able to define and give you areas where there are resources and areas where there is water, but not enough, so that you do not have to spend on drilling.
“You could concentrate on areas where they are identified to be sufficient resources that is not just manageable, but also complex.”
Mr Vosarogo said there were scientists at MRD to carry out constant water quality monitoring to ensure these resources were properly managed.
“Sometimes it is on schedule, sometimes is when they have a report and that is when they would attend to these boreholes.
“But it is also important that when we do community education on these projects that we emphasise on the need to have buffer zones around it.
“In other words, you cannot bring your cattle next to the borehole facility or anywhere near running surface water, because the surface waters will ultimately drip down to the aquifers.”
