Residents of Sakoca continue to experience water supply disruptions despite multiple complaints to the Water Authority of Fiji (WAF).
The district’s advisory councillor, Indar Deo Bisun, said the issue has been ongoing since November 2022.
“The issue had been going on for a long time, but the worst came in November 2022 when development work started at Sakoca Stage 2 by the Ministry of Housing developer, Vanua Holdings,” Mr Bisun said.
“The whole of Sakoca Stage 2 was dug up by heavy machines without promptly working on the project and from March this year the development has been at a standstill.
“The machines have dug, damaged and spoiled the WAF main lines and service pipes as well as private pipes.
“They buried them with soil or sand without properly fixing or repairing them.
“As water is released at night, rather than running into residents’ pipes, the water leaks and gets wasted into drains due to damaged or broken pipes.”
Mr Bisun added that the water trucks sent to the area by WAF do not serve all the residents.
“WAF couldn’t supply water in taps but should have option B, which is currently not working out, that is, water trucks, which only serve 10 per cent of the residents.
“The big or heavy trucks can’t access people residing far from main roads or living in settlements.”
Mr Bisun is urging WAF to take immediate action as this has been an issue for a long time.
“Thousands of messages are on our SMS via phones.
“It is too much and WAF staff should take proactive measures and action to curb such problems. It is too much now.”
WAF has clarified that efforts to restore normal water supply were hampered by a blockage at the Savura Intake, causing a drop in inflow and affecting reservoir levels.
It said that despite initial progress, the disruption is persisting and inconveniencing the residents, adding that progressive normalisation of the water supply would begin tomorrow, contingent upon favourable weather.
