Highlands feel the heat of dry spell

THE long dry season in the highlands region has suddenly made safe drinking water a scarce commodity.
Water supply services in Kundiawa, Chimbu, and Goroka, Eastern Highlands, were feeling the pinch of the water shortage.
Water taps in residential areas in Kundiawa town had run dry for the whole of last month, forcing residents to shout abuses at PNG Waterboard officials in Kundiawa.
Kundiawa deputy mayor Peter Lorrie expressed dissatisfaction at the Kundiawa manager of Waterboard and called for a stop to the K50,000 payments by Kundiawa-Gembogl MP Joe Mek Teine to extend water supply in to some of the settlements in the town.
Lorrie asked why the town was without water for a long time.
Goroka Town Authority, which supplies water to the town, expressed fear of the decreasing volume water coming through the storage tank from Komiufa area.
Goroka mayor Koni Sari yesterday called on residents not to waste water and care for water pipes and avoid illegal connections.
He said the continuous dry season had affected the water sources as they were showing signs of drying up.
Business houses in the two towns also expressed fear of water shortages, some of the bakeries in Goroka have scaled down their operations while fresh water was now hard to find.
Likewise, health authorities in both Chimbu and Eastern Highlands issued separate warnings to the people to take extra care of their health as water-related diseases might arise.
Steven Show from the Chimbu health office said yesterday there would be more severe effects on the health of the people especially dehydration, nutrition, malnutrition, skin diseases and the likes if the dry season continued.