The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) will be undertaking a partial water shutdown in the Western Division, water supply will be disrupted to selected elevated residential areas of Nadi and Lautoka City from 6 pm Saturday (09/02) until 6 am Monday (11/02).
WAF Board Director, Mr Kamal Gounder said that WAF will be able to supply water to majority of areas in Nadi and Lautoka while undertaking the partial planned shutdown to allow repairs to a major leakage on the high-pressure water pipeline from the Vaturu Dam to the Nagado Water Treatment Plant.
“The suspected leakage is from the existing Gibault joint on the tee spigot connecting to the 711mm line. The leakage is suspected to be a result of burst or worn out rubber from the joiner. This is a major leakage with an approximate leakage volume of 4 to 5 megaliters per day (ML/d),” said Mr Gounder.
“Therefore, WAF has decided to carry out the repairs this weekend as the leakage continues to deteriorate, and if it is left unattended it would be catastrophic, leaving thousands of customers without water supply for weeks,” explained Mr Gounder.
WAF General Manager Customer Services and Acting General Manager Operations, Mr Sekove Uluinayau said that to sufficiently satisfy water requirements over the partial shutdown period each household should store sufficient amounts of water to sustain them for at least two days for drinking and cooking purposes.
“For other purposes such as bathing, washing dishes and clothes, more water should be stored. Once households run out of the water they have stored, WAF will be placing a total of fifty, 5,200 litre and 10,000 litre water tanks at strategic locations in affected areas. In addition, the Authority will also attend to specific
requests that will be made by domestic customers its water carting services,” said Mr Ulunaiyau.
Mr Uluinayau said WAF will ensure that during the partial shutdown period there will be no interruption to the major services such as hospitals, airport, schools and hotels as 17 water carting trucks will be deployed to cart water as well 6 four wheel drive twin cabs carting 1000 litre water tanks to service inaccessible areas.
“Therefore, the Authority is kindly requesting its customers residing in the affected areas to support this essential operation by storing sufficient amounts of water prior to the disruption as well as to use water wisely for their immediate needs during this shutdown period,” said Mr Uluinayau.
Mr Uluinayau said that the Authority highly regrets any inconvenience caused to its customers and seeks the corporation of motorists and road users to be mindful and give way as WAF water carting trucks will be moving around during the disruption period.
Meanwhile, customers are to contact the Authority’s National Contact Centre on 1507 or email waterhelp@waf.com.fj for any clarification or water carting assistance.