Page 21 - Islands Business March 2022

Water Water

By Samantha Magick • International cooperation on water and sanitation
• Participatory sanitation management
In the Pacific region, access to clean water and sanitation “The need to reach those who are furthest behind has never
has gone backwards since 2015 according to the latest Sus- been greater,” Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-
tainable Development Goals 2002 progress report. General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of
The title of that report, Widening disparities amidst CO- the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
VID-19, gives some idea of why ground has been lost. It states (ESCAP), has written.
that while the Pacific subregion is not on track to achieve any “Understanding the intersection of key development chal-
of the 17 goals by 2030, regression on clean water and sanita- lenges with population characteristics such as age, gender,
tion (SDG 6) is an area of particular concern. race, ethnicity, health, location, migratory status and income,
“Despite a substantial increase in aid to LDCs [Least De- is critical to achieving a more equitable recovery. We must
veloped Nations] for water supply and sanitation, the region work together as a region to ensure that no one or no country
must take action to reverse negative trends on water use falls behind.”
efficiency and the protection and restoration of water-related
ecosystems. A large population still lacks access to safely- Chlorination and the Cook Islands
managed drinking water services and basic handwashing facili- Measures to improve the quality of the water supply in
ties, especially in rural areas. Progress towards those targets Cook Islands (and related reforms around pricing and gover-
is too slow to achieve Goal 6 by 2030,” the report states. nance) prompted public marches and opposition in mid-2020.
It says there are ‘conflicting trends’. For example, “while Landowners were concerned over its impact on their owner-
access to basic drinking water and sanitation are gradually ship rights and the cost of water services. The use of chlorine
improving in the Pacific, high fluctuations in permanent water to purify water in the new system was so controversial that it
areas is causing a regression in clean water and sanitation.” has now been banned.
In the Pacific, 43-45% of the population does not have The Cook Islands water authority, To Tatou Vai (TTV) says
access to basic water supplies, and even more, 65% (or its Te Mato Vai project to replace Rarotonga’s aging water
eight million people), do not have access to basic sanita- infrastructure was “specially designed for Rarotonga, tak-
tion. Climate and other natural disasters will exacerbate this ing into consideration the unique environment, and building
problem. on decades of scientific knowledge in best practice water
Non government organisation ChildFund describe what that treatment from around the world and particularly the Pacific
looks like in Kiribati. In Betio, it says, piped water is only region.” It was funded by the New Zealand and Chinese gov-
available for a few hours every two-three days. Groundwater ernments, at a cost of NZ$89.7 million (US$62.5 million).
supplies are threatened by “rising sea levels, high tides, storm The water authority conducted a six-month trial of polyalu-
surges and contamination from rubbish.” A recent ChildFund minium chloride (PACl) use in the water supply, saying: “fol-
survey showed 73% of the 1,875 households participating in its lowing more than 10,000 tests taken, the data collected tells
water quality testing programme had unsafe or likely-unsafe us that there has been a huge improvement in water quality.
drinking water, due to bacterial contamination. “Turbidity (dirty water) and E. Coli (bacteria) levels have
Poor quality data or the absence of data relating to SDG greatly reduced, meaning there are less harmful contami-
progress entirely, is a continued challenge, although there are nants in the water that put the community at risk of illnesses
moves towards more targeted and locally-relevant surveys including gastro (upset stomachs), ear infections and skin
says Alison Culpin, the Social Statistics Adviser with the Pacific diseases.
Community (SPC). She says more focus is needed on improv- A recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) webinar heard from
ing the availability of disaggregated data to understand and an (unnamed) representative from TTV, who said following the
support groups that are being left behind, while addressing PACI trial, “we’re waiting on permission from the landowners
national planning needs. to continue dosing. And the use of chrlorine has been outright
The desegregation of data, particularly along ethnic lines, banned for the foreseeable future.
is a sensitive matter in Fiji. The Senior Development Finance “So, I guess the challenge that we’re having is that there’s
Analyst International in Fiji’s Ministry of Economy, Kris Singh, not really a lot of reporting data at the moment from health
says while COVID has hindered Fiji’s SDG ambitions, it remains and how many people do get sick from water. It’s really hard
committed to progress, and improving reporting mechanisms to convince people that they need something that they don’t
ahead of the country’s 2023 Voluntary National Review. know they need, the general data …is there…but there’s no
The SDG 6 (water and sanitation for all by 2030) targets sort of record of how that affects Rarotonga,” she said.
relate to: “Unfortunately we’ve got the infrastructure there, we just
• Safe drinking water can’t use it really,” she concluded.
• Trans-boundary water cooperation While data quantifying the economic cost of illness due to
• Access to sanitation and hygiene using contaminated water— for example in school or work
• Water-related ecosystems hours lost—is difficult to find, the human cost is heavy. Five
• Water quality people have died from typhoid in Fiji this year, with 67 lab-
• Water-use efficiency confirmed cases of typhoid fever at the time of writing. While

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