Village water supply needs upgrade for growing population

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
THE WATER supply system at the Musom-Tale village in the Labuta local-level government area of Nawaeb district needs an upgrade and expansion to cater for an increase in its population, an official says.
Water committee chairman Wakai Manua said water was piped from the Pataputi stream and was first established in 2015. It was a project funded by AusAID in partnership with World Vision.
Manua said since 2016, the water supply was looked after by the villagers through a committee.
“There are a total of 40 water outlets/taps that serve more than 500 people each day,” he said.
“Water supply is connected to important public facilities and also the surrounding communities. They include the Flierl Elementary School, ex-servicemen’s blocks, Situm Primary School, Situm Health Centre, John Jimmy block and St John’s Elementary School.
“The water supply was free. However, in 2016, when the water committee was set up, we started charging K30 at the end of the month. The fees go towards paying for new taps, pipes and cleaning, and patrol by committee members.
Manua said the supply was serving a lot of people and there was a bigger demand for supply as the population had increased so the system needed improvement and funding to support its expansion.
“There has been no support from the government. We have plans to change the pipes and install new ones, we also plan to have the water piped to new areas and to capture areas where there are a lot of people residing,” Manua said.
“There are many people residing in Situm now and they need water. For those areas where they do not have access to water supply, they use rain water to wash, drink and cook, while most use the Situm River.”