The Asian Development Bank says some people in Kiribati's South Tarawa receive only two hours of tap water every two days and are using beaches as toilets.
Transcript
The Asian Development Bank says some people in Kiribati's South Tarawa receive only two hours of tap water every two days and are using beaches as toilets.
The ADB's Pacific Urban Development Specialist Allison Woodruff told Jenny Meyer the water and sanitation report just released shows the situation in Kiribati is critical.
ALLISON WOODRUFF: I think at first it's important to highlight that as a low lying atoll South Tarawa faces tremendous challenges with the water supply situation. The population is growing quickly so, it's growing at about four and a half per cent annually, so increasing demand for water, and the water is sourced from a single freshwater lens; which is under pressure from over extraction caused by losses and growing demand. And also in terms of storms and king tides and then future climate change impacts with salt water intrusion. So the water supply situation is really challenging. And then added to that the infrastructure has significantly deteriorated, so supply is only provided about two hours every two days and that's largely because of inadequate supply because of limited freshwater resources. But also because of the infrastructure condition which has resulted in significant losses. So from the water that's produced from the freshwater lens about a third of that is actually delivered to customers and rest is unaccounted for.
JENNY MEYER: So you're saying some people only get water out of their taps for two hours every two days?
AF: Yes. It's important to mention as well that a lot of better off households actually have invested in things like rain water tanks and can buy bulk water delivery from the utility but for less well off households they are reliant for their drinking water on the supply which is as I mentioned two hours every two days. And then of course borrowing water from neighbours when they run out. So it's a fairly critical situation. And as well with the sanitation the current sewage network has limited coverage and then also suffers from frequent overflows and blockages which poses a public health risk to South Tarawa.
JM: So what is going to be done as a result of this report. Is the ADB actually making an investment at this time or is this a costing exercise seeing what the current state of the situation is, I mean it does sound like you say, quite a critical situation?
AF: The intention of the report is to add weight to the importance of tackling the current water supply and sanitation challenges. The government I think is very much aware of the need to improve the situation and is taking measures with supportive development partners like ADB to improve water supply, sanitation and hygiene. ADB is working with the Ministry of Public Works and the Public Utilities Board to upgrade the sewage network to expand access to improve sanitation services. And that's intended to support improvements in public health, reduce the environmental pollution and contamination to the freshwater lenses by trying to get people to connect to the sewage system; versus relying on less ideal like pet latrines and inadequately installed septic tanks which pollute the freshwater lens. And then also a large portion of the population still relies on beaches in near shore areas.
Allison Woodruff says the ADB estimates the situation is costing Kiribati up to four per cent of it GDP every year.
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