Taurama needs water

The National Letters

I WRITE in support of Wilfred Lunge’s recent letter on this subject.
Taurama valley residents and landowners are in need of water.
Whether it becomes a community use centralised system or one supplied directly to their homes, either way would be appreciated.
The lack of regular access to clean water is a concern for those along the Barracks’ bypass road to Tuna Bay and Taurama beach.
The residents mostly depend on rainwater during the six months of the wet season, from November to April of the following year.
When the dry season starts in May for the second six months to the end of October, residents pay watercart operators to deliver water.
Some buy 5000 litres of water for K250 and that lasts for a month, or less, depending on the family size and household needs, including flush toilets.
Water alone costs around K1500 for the six months of the prolonged dry season.
It’s all about survival.
While working people buy water from watercarts, or collect water through other means, a few use water wells.
Even then, they find water wells run low and dry up at the peak of the dry spells.
The Natitonal Capital District Commission Physical Planning Division team met the residents in March this year and forms were filled and submitted, along with land tenure documents, sketch maps of each demarcated residential block and the physical setup of residential properties within each land allotment, satellite images of the sites, land survey plans and other related technical information.
These were to be used by the NCDC Physical Planning Division to plan this unplanned suburb before services could go in.
Moresby South MP Justin Tkatchenko has water, electricity and road construction and sealing on his list of projects for Taurama beach.
How soon these will be done depends on the Natitonal Capital District Commission Physical Planning Division completing the groundwork and, of course, the availability of SIP funds and funding assistance from donor sources, if any.
Yes, it is quite hot and dry out here.

MM Ondassa
Taurama, NCD