[File Photo]

The Water Authority of Fiji says the latest bout of water cuts is because of the dry season being faced.

This comes as people and businesses along the Suva-Nausori corridor have again been facing water cuts during the current Easter holidays.

WAF Chief Executive Doctor Amit Chanan says Suva’s water supply system heavily relies on the Waimanu River, which has experienced a significant decrease in water flow due to the lack of rainfall.

Chanan says that in order to meet the demand of customers that reside in the Suva-Nausori corridor, an average monthly rainfall of 440 millilitres is needed in Suva but in the month of March, they only received half of that amount.

Furthermore, he says the catchment area of the Waimanu River has not seen decent rainfall since March 14th.

The CEO adds that as a result, the river’s flow has decreased by 80 million litres per day, impacting the operation of the two main pumping stations that supply 100 percent of Suva’s water, Waimanu and Waila.

“Main pumping stations that supply hundred percent of Suva water is Waimanu where we get 40 percent of the water and Waila we get 60 percent of the water. They are designed to operate on the river level of 0.8 meters. The river level has fallen to 0.6 meters so the pumps are unable to draw the raw water as needed. We getting about 10 percent less raw water into the treatment plants.”

Chanan says the daily supply of water to areas along Suva and Nausori has a gap of 10 to 12 million litres between supply and demand, exacerbating the ongoing water crisis.

[WAF Chief Executive Doctor Amit Chanan]

The CEO says that the Wainibuku reservoir, which supplies a large part of Suva, is unable to reach the required height to provide adequate water supply to all areas, impacting the pump supply area along the ridge, which includes Tacirua to Colo-i-Suva and affecting about 15 percent of Suva’s population.

To mitigate the impact, Chanan says that the Authority of Fiji focusing on water carting to the affected areas and implementing valve operations to provide intermittent supply.

However, Chanan acknowledged that some areas may still face water shortages.

The severity of the situation has raised concerns among residents in Suva, who are grappling with the water crisis during these past few months.