Providing safe drinking water a government priority: Maru

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
National Planning Minister Richard Maru says enabling people to have access to safe water is the Government’s top priority.
Maru said that when delivering a desalination machine to Biem Islanders in Wewak, East Sepik, on Friday. This machine can convert sea water into fresh water.
Maru said for remote and water-scarce villages like the Biem Island to have access to safe water was consistent with the Government’s Water Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) policy.
“This policy launched in 2015 says that all citizens in PNG have the right to have access clean and safe water,” Maru said.
He said Biem Island would be used as a desalination pilot project in the Wewak district.
“If it works in Biem, then we will roll it to other islands, so now I’m asking the Wewak district development authority to work with non-governmental organisations like Oxfam and WaterAid that are already in Wewak,” Maru said.
“We are willing to work with them to bring safe water to the communities in the district. So the DDA must put counterpart funding to put desalination machines in the islands and tanks in the mainland villages.”
Meanwhile, Biem Island paramount chief Greg Kibai has thanked the government for providing the machine to his community in the Schouten Islands.
“This machine is needed on the island as water is very scarce and drought is a problem,” Kibai said.
“Lately, our water sources were affected by dust from the neighbouring Kadovar Island volcano. But now we are OK because we have rain.”
Kibai said there were more than 2000 people on the overpopulated island.
“Such a situation is putting a strain on our limited water sources. We usually have the PNG Defence Force barge delivering water to us during prolonged droughts that we had experienced last year, in 1997 and 1998. We are a volcanic island and we have no water sources. Our only water source is rain.”
Kibai said that Wewak DDA and Oxfam had helped by providing tuffa tanks for then.
“But then tanks are useless if there is no rain. But for this machine, the source is the sea. You just pump in the sea and you get fresh water. So we are happy with this desalination machine.”