Sewerage system seen as boost for hygiene

EDA Ranu has a responsibility to inform city residents and businesshouses the plan for connection to the new Joyce Bay sewerage treatment plant, chief operating officer Dr Fifaia Matainaho says.
He told The National that this was the first time a sewerage treatment system had been built and people should be encouraged to connect to the service.
“Since we have a better treatment system, it’s now safe that we should now connect to people – even those who are not connected especially in the villages and settlements,” he said.
“We need to go to them and discuss the importance of hygiene. They cannot continue to use the pit latrines. Now we have something better.
“If they agree with us, we can start off with a communal system.”
Dr Fifaia said the system was for rateable areas and covered individual homes.
He said many settlements, communities, traditional villages were supplied water on standpipes.
“It will take a while for us to drive this to individual houses because now many of them are not paying water or some we are billing them and they don’t really pay everything.
“We don’t want to add that to a burden to Eda Ranu because there is a cost to treat waste at the treatment plant.
“We have to strategically find a way to slowly bring in the revenue to sustain the treatment plant.
“That’s why the awareness is very important.”