Chief Executive Doctor Amit Chanan

The Water Authority of Fiji says they need ongoing rain on a daily basis to help sustain the river levels.

Chief Executive Doctor Amit Chanan says on average, they require six millimeters of rain daily to have a replenishing flow in the rivers however, as of March this year, they have been running below average.

“We did have some rain in the catchment, but it was less than 2 millimeters. When the catchment is dry and you get less than 6 millimeters of rain, it does not turn into river flows. That water just simply gets absorbed into the ground, and it does not replenish river flows.”

Chanan says they recorded a significant amount of rainfall over the weekend; however, they do not have dams in the Eastern Division.

“Without that, if we have a few days of dry weather, it starts to impact our ability to get the water from the river.” I repeat, that is because we don’t have any dams in the east, we primarily depend on river flows, and therefore we do need consistent, reliable rain on a daily basis.

Dr. Chanan says there is still a gap between what is required and what has been produced, which is three million liters.

He says people living in the Suva-Nausori corridor will continue to face intermittent water supplies until the Viria Water Project is completed in July.