Village elder calls for help

By Aruna Lolani 16 August 2017, 12:00AM

What’s the point of paying for the government’s water if it’s unreliable?

Ula Solomona, of Etena Fou Mulifanua, raised this question yesterday.

The 75-year-old opened up about the water situation in his village during an interview with the Village Voice team.

“The only problem we have right now is water,” he said.

 “It’s funny because we have water tanks and we even have access to the government’s water unlike other people, but the problem is when our water system gets shut down, it usually takes about a month until it comes on again.”

This creates multiple problems, he said.

“So what is the use of having water tanks if it doesn’t have any source of water except for the rain?

“I means if it doesn’t rain, then there is no water and the government’s water only runs about two to three days a week.

“If a year goes by without any rain, then we’re basically living in a desert where there is no water.”

Ula said they have been asking for help for so long.

“We have been in this situation for as long as I could remember,” he said. 

“The Red Cross Society lend a hand by donating water tanks for every family, which was a good thing, but the only bad thing about it is that these water tanks depend on water from the rain in order to get filled up.

“And even with the government, they said to pay and now we have paid, but the water access is so unreliable, so what exactly are we paying for?”

Ula said that when they are stuck with nowhere else to fetch water, their church minister then requests water from the Samoa Fire and Emergency Services.

“So, what they do is they use their fire hoses to fill our gallons and pots with water.

“This is a call for help -- for our village because we deserve to have access to water as this is life for everyone.”

 

By Aruna Lolani 16 August 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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