TUVALU: Groundwater crisis in capital
Updated
Tuvalu's capital, Funafuti, which supports half the population of the small Pacific nation, is running out of fresh groundwater. The disappearance of groundwater will mean residents will have to reply more on rainwater and desalianted water. The Tuvalu Prime Minister's private secretary, Kelesoma Saloa, says while the alternative water sources are adequate, the contamination of groundwater means the loss of an important, traditional water source.
Presenter: Bo Hill
Speakers: Kelesoma Saloa, Private secretary to the Prime Minister of Tuvalu,
SALOA: The current situation now, especially in the capital Funafuti, the groundwater is getting really salty and people are, they're not using the wells they used to depend upon 10, 20 year ago. Now people mostly depend on rainwater but during long periods of no rain government has some desalination water. They have two desalination units so people buy desalinated water from the government but that water is heavily subsidised by government and I think it's a bit expensive.
HILL; Do you see this groundwater problem spreading beyond the capital?
SALOA: Yeah, I think so. If sea level rise becomes a real threat to our place I think most of the islands will be affected. There hasn't been any tests on the outer islands but hopefully we can use the Australian fund that was donated to us to do some water quality assessment in some of these islands. I mean the ultimate water plan is always to have quality and enough quantity water for popular use. So that's one the major strategy in our water plan. We receive a lot of rain annually something like 3500ml every year, so the only alternative is to have a lot of storage capacity to catch this rain.
HILL: Apart from human consumption is there anything else that relies on the groundwater.
SALOA: Yes, yes, things like - we have our local crops which we usually grow in deeper places, in pits and I think some of these plants are really effected especially during king tides or high spring tides - these pits get flooded with water. So when this king tide finishes most of these plants turn yellow, they've been drowned with salty water.
HILL: Are these households plots or commercial farms?
SALOA: No, these are household plots. I think most of the commercial farm are mostly done on higher grounds. I mean, if you want to build a house, no-one will build a house in a place that usually flooded. But, now places that were never flooded before are being effected by king tides.
HILL: What capacity does the population have to catch rainwater?
SALOA: Average storage capacity for household, average number of people around seven, is about 2000 gallons. The longest drought in Tuvalu in 1958 that was about five months with no rain and the population of households of seven people, had a storage capacity of about from five to 10,000 gallons can maintain that family throughout that period of drought. So i think around 5000 per family. There are some by-laws passed by local government that a house built should have a proper toilet system and water storage facility to cater for the household needs. I think it's one of the major problems we're facing in Tuvalu. Especially in the past - now with the assistance of UN like UNICEF, UNDP, SOPAC, Australia, Japan providing us with funding assistance I think compared today to 20 years ago, today we are much better off, but we still need a lot of those facilities to ensure water security in Tuvalu.
