Another 3 months have passed here in Fiji and although the Community Project volunteer team has been hard at work on several new projects and initiatives, water security remains a vital component of our work over on the neighbouring villages of Moturiki island.
Since our previous report, we have completed additional rainwater harvesting repairs at three villages- Nasesara, Uluibau and Nasavuki. This has included repairing defunct 30,000-litre concrete tanks in each village, as well as connecting guttering and rainwater harvesting infrastructure, ensuring that the newly repaired tanks are filled with clean fresh rainwater for the local communities.
That means in just 3 months we have restored nearly 100,000 litres of rainwater storage! This is a fantastic achievement and again highlights the importance of incorporating local knowledge and information into needs and capacity assessments in the early stages of any projects.
Looking ahead for the water security project over the coming months – many of the plastic tanks sit directly on the ground, which often leads to damage of the tanks and shortening of their life span. The team have begun reassessing RWH systems in all 10 villages to ascertain if repairs are required and if concrete bases are needed. So far assessments have been completed in three villages; Wawa, Nasesara and Navuti.
Since our initial needs assessment in 2016, shortly after Tropical Cyclone Winston hit Fiji, many of the houses which were destroyed or damaged have been rebuilt and repaired. As a result, we now need to reassess and remap each of the villages to include the additional households, in order to ensure there is sufficient supply for all villagers. This process has already begun and will help to identify any additional capacity which may be needed.
Once again, we’d like to say a massive heartfelt thank you to all of our donors, volunteers, staff and community partners for the incredible and generous hard work, input, contributions and efforts that go into making sure these projects are such a resounding success for the communities we work for, and alongside.
Vinaka vakalevu from the team!
