Fiji
SUMMARY OF PROJECT MILESTONES
May 2023: Loa Pipeline Field Engineering and General Area Assessment Trip
September/October 2023: Trip Report
November 2023-May 2024: Planning & Engineering
July/August 2024: Implementation Trip
Bula Everyone!
The goal of the Fiji Project is to work with the village residents of Buca, Loa, and Vunikura to provide them with a safe and reliable drinking water supply through advocating sustainability, community involvement, and project ownership. The long-term benefit of our work in Buca, Loa, and Vunikura will be a reliable and safe water supply that significantly reduces risk of waterborne illness such as typhoid, as well as infrastructure that has been sized and designed for better resiliency under different weather conditions and population growth within these three villages.
Our Work
Our work began in 2008 after an outbreak of typhoid in the Buca Bay region. Since then, our team has made eight Implementation Trips to the area, completing a variety of improvements to the villages’ water supply, including:
Installation of 33 biosand filters (BSFs) across the three villages and guidance with their repairs and water quality monitoring
Upgrades of significant portions of the three villages' water distribution systems
Replacement of a large portion of the transmission main in the village of Buca
Installation of a 20,000-liter water storage tank in the village of Vunikura
Repair of leaking water infrastructure in the village of Loa
Testimonial - “The impact of EWB's work on our village has been very helpful. First and foremost, we now have safe drinking water. Constructing and maintaining Bio-Sand Filters (BSFs) has got us working together as a community, and improved bonding between village members. We now have competitions when the children have holidays from school where they all clean and maintain the BSFs. EWB has also taught us the importance of the environment and keeping our water sources safe. We don't cut down trees near the streams anymore, because we want the water sources to be healthy for future generations.” - Paul Daveta, the Turaga-ni-Koro (village headman) for Vunikura village
Current Activities
Our 2023-24 planned work includes:
Water Supply Improvements: Replace and reroute pipe (1600 meters) from the Loa tank to the Loa village. Rerouting away from the existing road will eliminate leakage impacting supply and reduce the risk of future pipeline damage.
Water Quality Process Improvements: To transition full ownership of the biosand filter activities to the communities, the team will assess BSFs recently constructed independently by the Villages. As necessary, the EWB Fiji Team will provide additional advice on suggested repairs and maintenance of existing BSFs. This will include improvements to the BSF construction & maintenance processes including improvements to the construction manual and verification of the BSF parts list.
Educational Outreach: The EWB Fiji Team will work with village members to enhance understanding of water quality, water conservation, sanitation, hygiene, and public health and to promote effective operation and maintenance of the water systems. Participants will include, but are not limited to, the village at large, water committees, women’s groups, and children. Activities may include focus groups, group interviews, workshops, presentations, and hands-on demonstrations.
Communities We Work with
The three villages of Vunikura, Loa and Buca, are located around Buca Bay in a remote area of Vanua Levu Island in Fiji.
Community members are closely engaged and actively involved at every stage of our project cycle. During the year leading up to each implementation trip, our team works with the village headman and the village water committees create a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to agree upon priorities for each village for that year, as well as a division of labor and resources. During construction and implementation the team relies heavily on involvement and participation from the villagers to ensure both knowledge transfer and local ownership of the project.
After construction, the village is responsible for the continued maintenance of the project. The team provides training, along with spare components, to empower village residents to maintain pipelines and BSFs themselves.
Finally, the team coordinates closely with the villages' water committee at the conclusion of each implementation trip to identify additional concerns and initiate the discussion of priorities for continued improvements to the water supply system.
Get Involved
Check out the Events Calendar for upcoming team meetings and fundraisers.
E-mail volunteer@ewb-sfp.org to find out about getting involved on this team.
Join us in the fall at SFari, our annual fundraiser
Make a donation! All funds, whether $5 or $500, help the teams in changing someone’s life
Vinaka Vaka Levu! (Thank You!)
