The water problems continue as officials warn against wasting water in pigsties

The Waters division of the utilities department is reminding people to conserve water as they continue to work to address the water problems around the island.

Government officials are asking the Village Councils to help convey the message to their villages and the general public and warn those who are deliberately wasting water.

Officials say that they have witnessed taps and hoses left with running water at pigsties, while in other parts of the village or neighbouring villages, people are complaining of low water pressure.

They are asking that people look out for leaking taps or broken water pipes around their homes and villages and to report these to the water division.

Problems with water supply are an ongoing issue for the government. Previous governments had talked about charging for water supply but that has not happened.

For many years the governments complained about the costs of supplying water to every household on the island and have put in place the Water Act which provides the authority for the government to regulate the use of water.

To date, households and businesses continue to use water for free and the government officials continue to warn against wasting water and asking the public to conserve water.

For the past several months, the Department of Utilities Water division has had to attend to the problems affecting water supply around the island, and for some areas, they have had to cart water using Fire appliances.

Some of these water faults have been fixed such as the new pipes installed at the village of Hikutavake which will address the water problems of Vaipapahi and Malekau areas.

The residents of these areas are asked to continue to boil water for the next few days.