Water problems, a prolonged nuisance at Fasitoo-Uta

By Vatapuia Maiava 08 November 2016, 12:00AM

According to Taamilo Sila, from the village of Fasitoo-Uta, his family has been plagued with water problems for some months now.

Aged 65, Taamilo has had enough of water cuts making life hard for him and his family. He explains how the water goes off for long periods of time only for it to come back on later with dirty and undrinkable water.

“The struggle that my family faces these days is with water,” he told the Village Voice.

“We’ve been having problems with water for about three months now. When the water dies, we never know when it will come back on again.

“Whenever it rains, we are so thankful because we are able to fill up our water drums and buckets. The water would come on for a little while then off again for long periods of time.

“The Sunday that just passed, my whole family was busy going around looking for somewhere we can get some water. Another problem is that when the water comes back on, it’s dirty and we can’t use it for drinking.”

Taamilo says that with water being a basic need for all families, having an unreliable source becomes a real annoyance.

“Living like this isn’t easy, the water problems are bad enough but when the water finally comes back on, it’s dirty,” he said.

“This issue has been going on for a while now. The water flow is very unreliable and having a basic necessity like this going on and off makes everything tough on our family.

“One of my concerns is the health of my grandchildren. It’s easy to get sick when using the dirty water from the pipes; a common sickness is diarrhoea.”

Every day, Taamilo and his children are walking around in search of water. He says that the best place to look is the coastal areas where the water cuts are less likely to affect.

“We get our water from the coastal area,” he said.

“We would walk down to the main road with our buckets. The families living down by the main road are very lucky because they have reliable water.

“For us living inland, we have to deal with the constant water cuts.”

Asked if he has sent any requests to the government for assistance, Taamilo says he has, but it seems like the government are prioritising their families with their resources. “Many requests for help has been sent to the government but it seems like they only want to help their own families,” he said.

“They (government) go and give priority to their own families when it comes to water and other issues while the rest of the villages just sit and watch.

“My request to the Prime Minister is to please help us with water; we need reliable water every day because it’s a necessity that the people need.

“We really need water please.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 08 November 2016, 12:00AM
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